What do “red loans” in Greece, a music festival in Spain, the global arms trade, and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank have in common? They’re all tied to the controversial American investment giant, KKR.
On June 10, 2025, Palestinian DJ Sama Abdulhadi informed her nearly 300,000 Instagram followers that she was pulling out of this year’s Sónar Festival in Barcelona.
The festival’s organizers had moved quickly to accommodate several artist demands related to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. But one sticking point remained: Sónar’s financial ties to the American private equity giant KKR.
“I cannot and will not be associated with festivals or institutions backed by KKR” wrote Sama Abdulhadi. “As always, free Palestine,” her post concluded.
In June 2024, the American private equity firm acquired Superstruct Entertainment for €1.3 billion, adding some 80 European music festivals to its portfolio–including Sónar in Spain, Awakenings in the Netherlands, and Sziget in Hungary. Superstruct, a major player in the live entertainment industry, had spent the previous years consolidating some of Europe’s most prominent festivals under one corporate umbrella.
For KKR, one of the world’s largest investment firms, the deal was billed as a way to support “musicians and their art.” But the acquisition has also drawn scrutiny. The company is deeply invested in the global arms industry, including Israeli defense contractors and technology firms operating in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlements are widely considered illegal under international law.
In response, renown artists have launched a wave of cancellations and boycotts, targeting festivals such as Sónar in Spain, Field Day in the UK, and Boiler Room, which hosts events across multiple countries. Prominent musicians, DJs and cultural figures including Massive Attack, Brian Eno, and Juliana Huxtable have publicly called out KKR’s involvement.
The protest movement has gained traction across Europe. But less attention has been paid to KKR’s role in Greece, where its footprint stretches back nearly a decade.
While the firm has not acquired any Greek music festivals, its presence in the country dates to the aftermath of the financial crisis, when KKR spotted an opportunity in one of the most volatile sectors of the Greek economy: non-performing loans, known locally as “red loans.”
By 2010, as Greece’s financial crisis deepened, the country’s banks had amassed a massive backlog of unpaid loans. Nearly 45 percent of their portfolios were classified as non-performing–the highest rate in the Eurozone.
These “red loans,” as they’re known in Greece, referred to debts more than 90 days past due. They posed a serious obstacle to financial recovery, limiting banks’ ability to issue new credit. In most cases, they had to be restructured or written off–moves that came at significant cost.
For KKR, the crisis presented a lucrative opening. The firm entered the Greek market with a two-pronged strategy.
The first involved a collaboration with Piraeus Bank and the acquisition of €1.2 billion in business loans that were characterized as “non-performing but functional.” The deal was structured as a securitization, a process in which loans are bundled together and sold to investors as financial products. The loans were transferred to an investment vehicle managed by KKR Credit, the firm’s credit investment division.
The second intervention came in 2016, with the launch of Pillarstone, a platform for managing problematic corporate debt. A subsidiary of Pillarstone Europe, the platform received more than €1.2 billion in loans from Alpha Bank and Eurobank, with additional participation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), an international institution that supports private-sector development in emerging economies.
In the years that followed, KKR expanded its footprint in Greece, targeting sectors beyond finance.
In September 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic shook the global tourism industry, KKR acquired three large hotels on the islands of Crete, Corfu, and Zakynthos. The deal was made through the Apple Leisure Group, a joint venture between KKR and investment firm KSL Capital Partners, and included a total price tag of €178.7 million. The hotels were purchased from the Cypriot Louis Group and placed under the management of AMResorts, a subsidiary of Apple Leisure specializing in high-end hospitality.
A year later, Hyatt Hotels acquired Apple Leisure Group from KKR for roughly $2.7 billion. The three hotels are now part of the Hyatt portfolio.
KKR also holds a strong position in the Greek food sector, primarily through Upfield, the multinational company formed after acquiring Unilever’s spreads and olive oil divisions. In 2018, Upfield Hellas, formerly known as Elaïs–Unilever, came under KKR’s control. The company continues to distribute well-known brands such as Vitam and Becel ProActiv, with an annual turnover exceeding €250 million.
In 2020, KKR deepened its presence by acquiring Arivia S.A. through Upfield. The Greek company produces Violife, a plant-based cheese alternative exported to dozens of countries and now a global leader in its category. While KKR does not directly manage its Greek subsidiaries, it maintains significant influence in one of the country’s most profitable food sectors.
In 2023, KKR also acquired a minority stake in Catalio, a firm managing more than $1.5 billion in assets. Founded in 2020, Catalio invests in emerging technologies focused on innovative drug development and diagnostics, including treatments for cancer, neurological disorders, and autoimmune diseases.
KKR’s investments span dozens of sectors across the globe. According to a 2024 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the firm holds stakes in at least 261 subsidiaries, many of which, in turn, control companies of their own.
However, among its investments, those that have sparked a storm of controversy relate to its portfolio of global arms companies and technology companies that supply Israel’s armed forces.
In 2019, KKR acquired the Novaria Group, a manufacturer of specialized aerospace equipment, and commented that it was “betting big on the U.S. defense industry.”
In September 2023, KKR acquired industrial, aerospace, and defense supplier Circor International for $1.6 billion. In September 2024, KKR invested AUD 108 million in Advanced Navigation, an Australian defense and technology company.
Previously, KKR had announced its intention to invest in Controp, an Israeli company that develops advanced technology systems used by, among others, the Israeli armed forces, the US Lockheed Martin, and the Greek Coast Guard.
Until April 2025, KKR was a major investor in Axel Springer, a German media conglomerate whose holdings include the newspapers Bild and Welt in Germany, Business Insider in the US, Politico in both the US and Europe, and the football platform Transfermarkt.
Axel Springer also owns the Israeli real estate platform Yad2. In April 2024, the investigative outlet The Intercept revealed that Yad2 facilitated the sale and rental of thousands of properties in Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank–settlements considered illegal under international law.
More than 1,000 of the listings were paid advertisements from real estate agencies, meaning both Yad2 and Axel Springer generated revenue from their promotion.
In December 2024, Yad2 ran its own advertisement in an Israeli financial newspaper, featuring the slogan “From the river to the sea” seemingly co-opting a slogan widely associated with the palestinian call for liberation across all territory from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea. The ad included a map with no distinction between Israel’s internationally recognized borders and the occupied Palestinian territories. “Yad2 helps you look ahead and build a future in your next home in Israel,” the ad read.
That same month, five Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, along with the councils of three villages, filed a formal regulatory complaint in Germany, accusing Axel Springer of contributing to human rights violations in Palestine.
KKR’s financial ties to Israel extend beyond Axel Springer. The firm owns Guesty, a property management platform, and collaborates with the Israeli cybersecurity company IntSights, founded by former military intelligence officers. In 2021, it also built a 10.5-megawatt underground data center in the Israeli city of Petah Tikva through its subsidiary, Global Technical Realty.
Solomon submitted detailed questions to KKR regarding its investments in music festivals, its role in the defense industry, and its business activities in Greece. The company responded with a general statement that largely referred back to previously published press releases.
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