By Nate Wolf

As asset managers struggle to reassure investors that their portfolios are healthy, executives at one private-equity giant are showing how confident they are by putting their own money on the line.

KKR co-CEOs Joseph Bae and Scott Nuttall purchased a combined $25.6 million worth of KKR common stock this week, according to regulatory filings. Board directors Matt Cohler and Timothy Barakett joined them, snapping up shares worth $4.5 million on Tuesday and $5.2 million last week, respectively.

"These [purchases] reflect our leadership team's confidence in our future performance," a KKR spokesperson said in a statement.

The $35 million outlay may be a rare sign of optimism for alternative managers, which some investors worry have too much exposure to risky companies through their private-credit funds. KKR and Blackstone are both down 21% in 2026, Ares Management has fallen 23%, and Apollo Global Management has shed 17%.

On Wednesday, Blue Owl Capital altered quarterly redemptions at one of its relatively small private-credit funds. Shares of other firms active in private credit, such as Blackstone, Ares, and Apollo, fell sharply. The concern is that similar funds may also curb redemptions.

Private credit involves loans to highly leveraged private companies, which asset managers then package into funds for institutional investors or into business development companies -- BDCs -- for retail investors. Blue Owl's move will also see the company sell $1.4 billion of loans and return the capital to investors across three impacted BDCs.

"Contrary to what has been reported by some, we are not halting investor liquidity in OBDC II," the company said in a statement Thursday. "In fact, we are accelerating the return of capital."

KKR's own BDC, FS KKR Capital, is down 13% this year and 45% over the last 12 months. Like several other large funds, it trades at a steep discount to the value of the assets in its portfolio.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com

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February 20, 2026 15:22 ET (20:22 GMT)

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