UPDATE 4-KKR delays listing to next year as crisis bites

(Adds details from call, updates KPE stock price)

By Reed Stevenson and Paritosh Bansal

AMSTERDAM/NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co [KKR.UL] delayed plans to go public after its Amsterdam-listed affiliate suffered big investment losses, the latest blow to the buyout firm's initial public offering plans due to the credit crisis.

KKR, whose investments include asset manager Legg Mason Inc (LM.N) and mattress maker Sealy Corp (ZZ.N), had been planning to merge with KKR Private Equity Investors LP (KPE) (KKR.AS) and list on the New York Stock Exchange by year's end. But that has been put off until next year, and KKR did not indicate when in 2009 it expected the deal to come.

KKR officials said on a conference call the delay had more to do with the deal process than market turmoil, and the firm expected the transaction to close as structured. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission review of the registration statement related to the deal was continuing, it said.

The delay marked the latest IPO to stall amid the global credit crisis and is another indication of problems faced by private equity firms as investments sour in the economic slowdown and a credit freeze makes new deals scarce.

It has been nearly three months since the last U.S. IPO got off the ground, and some analysts don't expect any stock flotations until sometime in 2009.

"It's inconceivable that you can do an IPO today with anything that resembles a financial product," said James Cox, a professor of corporate and securities law at Duke University.

KPE went public in Amsterdam in May 2006 in an offering of $5 billion, or $25 per share. Its shares fell 13.8 percent to $4.25 on Monday, trading at less than one-fifth of the IPO price.  Continued...