Boston-based Fidelity Investments and private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) have entered into a partnership, under which clients of Fidelity Investments will gain access to stock offerings, including initial public offerings, by companies owned by the latter.

The deal comes in the wake of some recent IPO successes which include IPOs of OpenTable and SolarWinds. With the success of these the IPO market which seemed to have dried up seems to be in a revival mode. IPOs of companies owned by private equity firms had been especially hard hit in the absence of such demand as they have limited options for cashing out their investments.

According to Mark Haggerty of Fidelity Capital Markets, there are some signs of the market opening up, but he said the great thing from their perspective was that by getting the alliance in place, the company would be ready when it did come.

KKR was established in 1976 by Henry Kravis and George Roberts and is seeking avenues beyond leveraged buyouts, with deal making hit by the global recession and banks' unwillingness to lend. 

The firm's capital-markets unit Craig Farr has underwritten debt and equity offerings for holdings, including software maker SunGar Data Systems Inc. 

The agreement would enable the mutual fund firm's retail and institution brokerage clients to buy IPOs while KKR's capital market business will gain access to a distribution channel, according to analysts.

The deal comes as KKR, co-founded by ''buyout king'' Henry Kravis, reported a substantial loss in 2008 with the firm's investments taking a hit amid the global downturn.
 
According to analysts, KKR has not sold shares in an IPO for any of its companies amid the financial crisis. The company is also reportedly considering buying out its Amsterdam-listed fund, KKR Private Equity Investors LP to go public.

Fidelity Investments, a US-based investment company, comprises two independent but closely cooperating companies – Fidelity Management and Research LLC (FMR LLC) of the US and the global Fidelity International Limited (FIL).

With more than 400 different funds, FMR is the largest US mutual fund company with assets worth $1.57 trillion as of September 2007 while FIL manages $280 billion worth of international assets.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) is a New York City-based private equity firm founded in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg Jr, Henry Kravis and George R Roberts. The firm manages investment funds and is focused on leveraged buyout of established businesses. The firm has so far completed over $400 billion of private equity transactions.

Besides its headquarters in New York City, the firm operates out of eleven additional office in the US, Europe and Asia.