With the mega offering of Blackstone, it's inevitable that other top tier private equity shops will file to go public. In fact, according to a report from CNBC's Charles Gasparino, it appears that KKR is getting its papers together and has even retained Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Citigroup (NYSE: C).While Blackstone is a premier firm, KKR is still the pioneer. Back in the 1970s, the firm invented much of the foundation for private equity.
Although, even if KKR can file a prospectus within the next couple weeks, an IPO is not likely until the fall. It's usually tough to get enough investor interest during the doldrums of the summer.
Gasparino also thinks other firms -- like Apollo, Carlyle and Texas Pacific Group -- will go public.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.
