Payment delay shakes market overseas

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Doug Krizner: Overseas markets have been rattled by more subprime trouble. A major private equity group has delayed repaying billions of dollars in debt. From London, Stephen Beard reports.

Stephen Beard: A subsidiary of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, one of America’s biggest private equity groups, triggered the stockmarket falls. The company has delayed the repayment of debt worth several billion dollars for the second time.

The delay is embarrassing for KKR. The company thought they’d fixed this problem six months ago, bailing out their subsidiary to the tune of $270 million.

James MacKintosh of the Financial Times says two of KKR’s founders put their own cash into that bailout:

James MacKintosh: It’s not clear exactly how much Henry Kravis and George Roberts put in personally but between all the partrners it was about $50 million so there’s quite a few brightly coloured shirts being lost here.

KKR’s difficulties are a further unwelcome sign that the credit crunch is far from over.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.