KKR & Co. Inc.

Founded in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis and George Roberts, KKR helped establish the modern leveraged-buyout model. It has since expanded from a primarily U.S. private-equity firm into a global alternative asset manager.

KKR invests across private equity, credit and liquid strategies, infrastructure, real estate and insurance, and also provides capital-markets solutions. Its clients include institutional investors such as pensions, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations and insurers, alongside wealth-management and family-capital clients.

The firm is especially strong in large-scale private-market investing and operational value creation: its stated approach combines investment capital with active oversight and expertise intended to improve portfolio-company performance. For students, KKR is notable for the breadth of its platform and for internships that place participants inside a specific asset-management or corporate-function team after centralized training.