Just weeks after appointing ex-Lehman star
Makram Azar
as the head of its operations in the Middle East, the American PE giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts yesterday installed
Ford M. Fraker
, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, as a senior advisor to the firm.
Fraker was appointed as the Saudi ambassador by George W. Bush on April 11, 2007, according to the
of the US embassy in Riyadh, and served in that post until this April. No word yet on exactly what Fraker's role will be with KKR, but according to a release, he'll "
"
Astutely, it seems KKR understands that dealmaking in the Gulf and the broader Middle East is relationship-centric: with Fraker presumably comes a large rolodex of powerful people. It'll be interesting to see how they use it.
