Growth investing: Q&A with KKR healthcare investor Ali Satvat

The Wire

Jan. 6 2021

KKR's Ali Satvat digs deep into growth healthcare playbook; KKR Growth, Accel-KKR, General Atlantic, Permira, Spectrum Equity find their spots in growth-tech

Morning!

Today we’re talking growth investing - one area of the market that has remained active through the pandemic.

On the heels of back-to-back November 2020 investments in Argenta, an animal health pharma services firm, and newly-formed medical-device platform Zeus Health, I “sat down” virtually with Ali Satvat, who co-head’s KKR’s healthcare industry efforts in the Americas and leads the firm’s first-ever Healthcare Strategic Growth Fund.

Here’s a quick preview of my Q&A with Satvat:

How is the growth side of the market positioned amid both the health crisis and incoming change in administration?

"The [covid] challenges are real, and so the benefit of the investments that we have in this Healthcare Growth Fund is we haven’t had a lot of exposure to leverage. We didn’t have a bunch of companies that had issues on debt; we didn’t have a bunch of companies that have issues on liquidity.

While we are very mindful of policy and keep a very watchful eye from state and local [perspectives], the vast majority of what we’re doing in growth has a bipartisan element to it. We really are trying to avoid stroke-of-the-pen risk. If we do our job well, we’re looking for secular growth businesses across the healthcare landscape where we think we’re delivering good value and good outcomes to the system. If we do that, we are largely insulated from the vagaries of policy."

In my full interview with Satvat, the investor, among other things, digs into the firm’s strategy of backing “repeat themes and teams” such as Zeus CEO Duke Rohlen – whom the firm has now partnered with for its third time in a platform capacity. Read it here on PE Hub.

Growth-tech: As it relates ... tech scoopster Milana Vinn recently caught up with several growth-tech investors including Satvat’s colleague, Jake Heller, co-head of KKR’s Technology Growth team in the Americas, along with senior members of firms including Accel-KKR, General Atlantic, Permira and Spectrum Equity. Check out Milana’s full report for more on the firms' strategies and learnings through the pandemic.

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub.

That's it for me today. As always, write to me at springle@buyoutsinsider.com with your tips, comments or just to say hello!

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Also of note (may require subscriptions)

Speaking out: Private equity joined other business leaders in asking Congress to certify Joe Biden’s presidential victory during Wednesday’s perfunctory session, asking for “no further delay in the orderly transfer of power.” PE leaders who signed the letter include big-names like Blackstone’s Jonathan Gray, KKR’s Henry Kravis, Carlyle’s Kewsong Lee and Apollo’s James Zelter. Others on the list included senior members of Centerbridge, Odyssey, General Atlantic and Warburg Pincus. Read more on Buyouts.