By Chibuike Oguh
(Reuters) - Buyout firm KKR & Co (NYSE:KKR) Inc is seeking to raise $12 billion for its flagship global fund that will invest in infrastructure assets such as oil and gas pipelines and renewable energy projects, according to people familiar with the matter.
The fundraising comes as President Joe Biden has been pushing U.S. lawmakers to back a plan for trillions of dollars in new spending on projects to restore America's crumbling infrastructure.
KKR began raising the fund, KKR Global Infrastructure Investors IV, late last year alongside its other flagship funds, including the North America private equity fund, which is aiming to attract more than $15 billion.
A KKR spokeswoman declined to comment.
Private equity firms tend to raise successor funds that are 10% to 20% larger than their predecessors. But KKR's latest global infrastructure fund would be significantly bigger than KKR Global Infrastructure Investors III, which amassed $7.4 billion from investors in 2018.
The prior funds, KKR Global Infrastructure Investors II and KKR Global Infrastructure Fund, had raised $3.1 billion and $1 billion, respectively.
KKR's third and second infrastructure funds have generated 0.97 times and 1.49 times respectively of their investors' money as of March 2020, according to the New York City Police Pension Fund.
KKR's Infrastructure funds are managed by Raj Agrawal. Some of their recent investments include Canadian pipeline company Coastal GasLink, Florida-based renewables energy operator Nitrogen Renewables, and Indian power transmission developer IndiGrid Trust.