Henry R. Kravis is like a kid in a candy store. Three years into the worst bear market since 1929, the legendary dealmaker is buying companies left and right. Since June, his firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., has announced plans to acquire businesses worth about $7.5 billion. They include a Canadian phone directory publisher and a French electrical equipment maker. Besides, KKR is eyeing hundreds of American companies. "We're busy again. I love it," Kravis says. The buyout kings are back. Not since the 1980s have the pickings been so rich for leveraged buyout firms like KKR in the high-profit, high-risk business of buying, fixing, and reselling companies. Sidelined throughout much of the late 1990s, when merger mania pushed asset prices out of sight, they are now picking up businesses at bargain prices as companies shed what they couldn't digest. Flush with more than $100 billion raised from the likes of pension funds, they're emerging as a powerful force in a new wave of restructuring.
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机译：亨利·克拉维斯（Henry R. Kravis）就像糖果店里的孩子一样。这是自1929年以来最糟糕的熊市三年，这位传奇的交易者正在左右收购公司。自六月以来，他的公司Kohlberg Kravis Roberts＆Co.已宣布计划收购价值约75亿美元的企业。他们包括加拿大电话簿发行商和法国电气设备制造商。此外，KKR还着眼于数百家美国公司。 “我们又很忙。我喜欢它，”克拉维斯说。买断国王回来了。自1980年代以来，对于像KKR这样的杠杆收购公司而言，在高利润，高风险的购买，固定和转售公司业务中的收购如此丰富。在1990年代后期的大部分时间里，由于并购狂潮使资产价格遥不可及，他们一直处于停滞状态，由于企业抛弃了他们无法消化的东西，它们现在正以低廉的价格收购企业。它们从养老基金等机构筹集了超过1000亿美元的资金，正成为新一轮重组浪潮中的强大力量。
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