KPS Capital Goes on Offense Buying Humvee and Lawn Mower Makers
- Private equity firm has bought two companies in recent months
- Lack of debt-funded deals helps KPS in weak LBO credit market
This article is for subscribers only.
There’s something retro about KPS Capital Partners. The private equity firm earns money from companies that make actual things -- Humvees and golf clubs, treadmills and lawn mowers. They favor old-line iconic brands, they don’t use a lot of leverage and they don’t mind working with unions.
They’re also staying busy at a time when other PE firms have put big deals on hold. KPS is poised to buy Briggs & Stratton Corp., the bankrupt maker of landscaping equipment, and in the past three months the $11.4 billion firm purchased Baker Hughes Co.’s oil pump business and bought Humvee maker AM General from from Ron Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes.