K-Star (KKR) Direct Lending Role

I’ve seen jobs posted for this group for nearly 2 years. It seems like they are building out a team in Dallas. Is anyone familiar with this team / what they are building out here? Is it more back office / servicing? Or is this team/office truly focused on originations?

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I’ve also seen job postings about this team but have never heard anything about them or could find anyone on LinkedIn who specifically does direct lending in Dallas. Also doesn’t make sense why the role would be under K Star since it seems like their only responsibility is to be on the special servicing side of things

 

I’ve interviewed with this team and know others that have as well. The process is lengthy and nobody I know that interviewed has received an offer (it’s been open since last Fall so >6 mos). To my understanding, they work with KKR to originate loans for Dallas based clients. Comp wise -the range I was told was very good. I know that office is expanding fast but think it’s mostly servicing at this point. Know someone there and am told hours are long.

 
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I'll help with comp because I feel like there's not enough comp info in the forum. Quoted associate comp was 150K base with 50% bonus (can't remember if the range was 40-50% or 45-50%, but top was 50%). I was told they were having a rough time finding quality candidates, so they enlisted a bunch of HHs to expand the search. The above is mostly true regarding what they do. The goal for the company is to have an AM, servicing, and underwriting platform all in one company. The role is an underwriting role, but there is a very clear distinction between working here and KKR. This is a separate company that will be working for other clients, not investing out of KKR's funds. They want to use the KKR name for branding purposes, so people think they are smart. The plan was to have someone from KKR Credit travel between NYC and Dallas for 18 months to teach the K-Star team how to operate under KKR standards. 

 

I can see them building out an underwriting support team - what about an originator on the ground? I remember hearing about those new junior roles, curious who will be sourcing loans. BX also set up that Brio company in Dallas/Atlanta very recently, though that is for BREDS.

 

Mostly true except the comment about investing. This team does directly invest out of all of KKR’s buckets of capital. There is no distinction in what deals this team works on except maybe a larger allocation of TX deals given location. The originators are all the same KKR originators it so would only make sense that the deals they close go into the same capital buckets (insurance, debt fund, etc). I know this for a fact.

 

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