Headquartered in New York, KKR & Co. is now the most important non-index fund shareholder in Henry Schein after taking a 12 per cent stake within the medical and dental provide firm.

The announcement, first reported by The Wall Road Journal on Wednesday, provides KKR the choice to extend its stake to nearly 15 per cent. The 2 firms will “collaborate to pursue further alternatives to create shareholder worth and drive the enterprise in its subsequent part of progress,” Henry Schein mentioned in an announcement.

The principle objective is to assist Henry Schein, which can also be headquartered in New York and has a market worth of about $9.5 billion, enhance its operations. The corporate reported preliminary income of $3.2 billion within the fourth quarter, bringing complete income to $12.7 billion for the yr.

Two KKR representatives — Max Lin and William Ok. Daniel — will be a part of Henry Schein’s board as impartial administrators. The corporate additionally appointed Robert J. Hombach, former chief monetary officer of Baxalta Inc., as an impartial director.

The information comes amid a pattern of elevated non-public fairness funding within the dental sector.

In keeping with a paper launched in August by the ADA Well being Coverage Institute, the proportion of dentists affiliated with non-public fairness nearly doubled over six years. The institute’s information confirmed non-public fairness affiliation grew from 6.6 per cent in 2015 to 12.8 per cent in 2021, significantly amongst bigger dental practices and specialists resembling endodontists, oral surgeons, pediatric dentists, orthodontists and prosthodontists.