The leading global investment firm, KKR, announced that it had closed its $4.0 billion fund of KKR Health Care Strategic Growth Fund II. The fund, or HCSG II, is dedicated to health care growth equity investment opportunities, mostly in North America and Europe.
KKR is expected to make more healthcare acquisitions in the future and will be investing approximately $500 million of capital in the fund, alongside investors. HCSG II will focus on the biopharmaceutical, medical device, health care services, life science tools, diagnostics and health care information technology sub-sectors.
Within the past year, KKR executed several new investments as part of its Health Care Strategic Growth initiatives. In June 2021, KKR partnered with Namal Nawana, the former CEO of both Smith & Nephew and Alere, to form Sapphiros, a platform to build the next generation of diagnostic technologies. Sapphiros plans to acquire Biocrucible, a British molecular diagnostics company, as well as GrapheneDx, a consumer diagnostics company that has developed a revolutionary graphene sensor-based technology for at-home and near-patient testing of a broad range of analytes. Additionally, KKR made deals with Argenta, Nordic Bioscience, Geode Health and Cordis.
KKR’s first dedicated healthcare growth equity vehicle, KKR Health Care Strategic Growth Fund, closed in November 2017 with $1.45 billion in capital commitments. HCSG II is its successor.
