Senior Managers Defect From KKR And The Blackstone Group –

The Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. both are preparing to lose senior managers from their private equity practices.

Mark Gallogly, a senior managing director and head of private equity for Blackstone, will leave at the end of this month to form a new firm with Jeffrey Aronson, head of distressed securities and leveraged loan activities at Angelo, Gordon & Co. The departure is described as amenable, with Blackstone expected to invest in Gallogly’s new effort. It also is not expected to significantly impact Blackstone’s current efforts to raise its fifth buyout fund, which is being marketed with a $12 billion target capitalization.

KKR is experiencing a pair of exits, with Ned Gilhuly and Scott Stuart departing at year-end to form a new hedge fund. Both men are 45 years old, joined KKR in 1986 and were roommates while students at Stanford Business School.

“We are excited about creating an enterprise of our own,” Gilhuly and Scott said in a prepared statement. “We have chosen to move into a new area of investing at a time when KKR is clearly flourishing, thanks to strong leadership, a deep and experienced team, and a focused approach to value creation. It has been a great privilege to have worked in such a unique organization for 19 years.”

Gilhuly originally worked out of KKR’s Menlo Park, Calif. office, but in 1999 agreed to help launch the firm’s London office with fellow Silicon Valley vet Todd Fisher. The firm raised around $3.05 billion for its initial European buyout fund, and is close to closing on a successor that is said to have already busted its c3.5 billion target. Stuart is based in New York, and worked on such transactions as Sealy Corp., DPL Inc. and UniSource Energy Corp. Both men were considered to be logical successors to Henry Kravis, once he eventually steps down.

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