KKR co-founder says 'stay calm and carry on' in market uncertainty

By Isla Binnie

(Reuters) -KKR co-founder George Roberts tried to ease investor anxiety on Monday as uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies have caused global stock markets to swoon.

"To quote Queen Elizabeth, stay calm and carry on," the private equity veteran told the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, referring to the British monarch who died in 2022.

"What we have now is disruption in international trade, and tariffs, with no real outcome of what that is going to be. ... I think there will be trade deals made - they have to be," added Roberts, who co-founded KKR with his cousin Henry Kravis in 1976.

Trump imposed on April 2 a minimum 10% tariff on all goods imported into the United States, before pausing some of them, with higher percentages to dozens of key partners from Europe to Japan, including a hefty levy on China that has since been raised to 145%. 

The ensuing market turmoil has made it harder to value assets and to strike deals that let private equity firms profitably sell or IPO their portfolio companies. 

"You can sort of see the administration walking back some of the more novel ideas they have come up with. Whether our country is going to be better off or not, the voters will have a chance to vote," Roberts said.

Roberts pinpointed infrastructure as a good sector in which to invest because of high interest rates and availability of good assets.

KKR expanded from buyouts to private loans, infrastructure and property, and now has assets worth more than $600 billion under management.

Roberts and Kravis passed on their co-chief executive roles at the firm in 2021 and now serve as co-executive chairmen.

(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Chris Reese and Will Dunham)