Table of Contents

 

 

Management’s Discussion of Fund Performance			1
Schedule of Investments			4
Statement of Assets and Liabilities			11
Statement of Operations			12
Statements of Changes in Net Assets			13
Statement of Cash Flows			14
Financial Highlights			15
Notes to Financial Statements			16
Voting Results from the March 18, 2022 Shareholder Meeting			26

 

 

The KKR Income Opportunities Fund (the “Fund”) files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year. For periods ending on or prior to January 31, 2019, the Fund has filed a complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year on Form N-Q. For periods ending on or after April 30, 2019, the Fund files a complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT within sixty days after the end of the period. The Fund’s Forms N-Q and Forms N-PORT are available on the Commission’s website at www.sec.gov or on request by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities, as well as information relating to how a Fund voted proxies relating to portfolio securities during the most recent year ended June 30 will be available (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 855-862-6092; and (ii) on the Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUND’S TRUSTEES

The proxy statements and annual reports include information about the Fund’s Trustees and are available without charge, upon request, by calling 855-862-6092 and by visiting the Commission’s website at www.sec.gov or the Fund’s website at www.kkrfunds.com/kio.

 

 

Management Discussion of Fund Performance

Looking Back on the Markets — April 30, 2022

As we began to witness this January, 2022 was certainly going to look and feel very different than the year prior. Closing out 2021 the market began to grapple with discrepancies in perception versus reality after a year of unprecedented and record-breaking issuance, performance and deal activity. January quickly snapped us back to the staunch reality of inflationary pressures, a hawkish Fed and an increasingly tepid market environment. Many of the market’s performance drivers over the last 24 months were borne out of the crisis manifested from the onset of COVID-19 in the first quarter of 2020. We are now starting to witness expansive ripple effects unfold as the Fed sits between a rock and a hard place to combat historically high levels of inflation and a devastating war in Europe that has sent geopolitical shockwaves through the global markets.

The S&P is off to its worst start since 1939 and the NASDAQ has sold off nearly 21% as of April 30th^{,1 catapulting a shutdown of the IPO market and igniting a new fear of slowing growth. On the credit side, the globalization of markets over the last decade, which also fueled growth, is starting to experience the impacts of the impending Fed unwind. Although we have been highlighting this for some time, it is now apparent due to the exacerbated market conditions which have prompted volatility in asset pricing, currencies and FX derivatives and fund flows across the ecosystem. Importantly, this market is now highlighting the decoupling of the stock market and credit markets which will be an important dynamic for portfolio construction and asset allocation across investment portfolios. Additionally, given the intrinsic relationship between fund flows and market making — this event kick started a domino effect on the heels of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the primary credit calendar froze and universally stalled capital markets activities. This resulted in the redirection of deal flow from issuers and simultaneously ignited private credit market activity. We are now experiencing credit moving from one segment of the market as a result of the volatility and decoupling effect to another segment — privates. Private credit investors have been excited about this recent flow as it brings forth bigger businesses and capital structures to lend to. On the rate side, the short end of the curve first experienced considerable movement and then flipped to the long end in the last weeks of April. Long duration assets such as investment grade bonds and high yield BB’s endured rate pain while floating rate leveraged loans weathered the mark to market storm, ending the quarter near flat. As a stark pall of uncertainty ensued, cash reserves continued to increase and pending mergers and acquisitions sought to find a new capital base and home. However, it is important to highlight that the increased dispersion in the market is more tied to technical headwinds than it is to fundamentals.}

As the March 16th Federal Open Market Committee (“FOMC”) meeting grew near, we saw the market find more of its footing, albeit cautiously and almost akin to a sigh of relief, as Fed Chair Powell finally confirmed what the market and market participants already were expecting: a 25 basis point increase to the Federal Funds rate. With the FOMC meeting under our belts and now the great debate focused on how many hikes we could potentially see in 2022, the global credit markets continued to recalibrate with large inflows into bank loans and outflows out of high yield. The outsized swath of flows, both institutional and retail, were moderated by the on-going supply demand imbalance technical in the market, which we will discuss further in this note. While Russia’s attack on Ukraine, coupled with inflation and a rising rate environment have introduced additional complexity for market participants to navigate, the demand for consistent income, down-side protection and preservation of capital remains persistent and is arguably even more important than ever before. Furthermore, the current rotation from fixed to floating interest rates has been an asset allocation call versus a specific credit thesis or selection. Market participants are shifting into floating rate for the sake of the floating rate over the quality of the credit and over liquidity. This lack of acknowledgement highlights favoring a technical attribute over credit selection and also confirms that the market is not experiencing a traditional flight to quality, which often happens in markets wrought with concern and lack of conviction. In many cases, the exact opposite is happening as the loan market has a higher concentration of single B assets and lower rated assets than the high yield or investment grade markets.

 

 

Notwithstanding the exogenous shock the crisis in Ukraine has catalyzed across the global markets, and in Europe in particular, the market volatility has been orderly until recently in Q2. There continues to be growing anxiety around what the future holds. It is important to remember there is still plenty of dry powder sitting on the sidelines assessing the market’s moves but simultaneously the market construct has created less incentive for investors to lean into risk.

Overall, the U.S. has been more insulated from the immediate shocks of the geopolitical crisis, although, not immune. In Europe, the conflict has already taken a toll, most notably stunting growth which many believe is likely to eventually lead to a recession. Globally, we have been witnessing the severe impact on commodity prices, currency depreciation coupled with foreign exchange volatility, and further exacerbation to existing inflationary headwinds. On the whole, U.S. Bank Loans closed out the first quarter nearly flat at -0.10%,² demonstrating the greatest resilience across asset classes. At the same time, European Bank Loans ended the quarter -0.50%,³ CLO Liabilities -0.33%,⁴ U.S. High Yield -4.51%,⁵ and European High Yield -4.83%⁶ on a total return basis as of March 31, 2022. As we compared public liquid credit returns to private credit returns, which are in the low single digits for the first quarter, it has become clear there is dispersion between asset classes.

The market ride is likely to continue to be bumpy but we think it is prudent to stick with conviction, fundamentals and seek out opportunity through the volatile moments. The globalization of markets we have witnessed has created an influential interdependency amongst a broad range of macroeconomic inputs that can result in volatility. In the same vein, this globalization effect has also prompted a decoupling amongst market segments such as fund flows and stocks and credit that will take some time to filter through the system. With the market still demanding a “show me” fundamental results story as corporate earnings roll in, acute attention paid on margin compression, currency fluctuations and the long-term net effects of slowing growth, we believe there could be real dispersion on the horizon. We are living through an environment where the Fed has openly acknowledged there is a need to actively dampen consumer demand to temper inflation but the supply side headwinds cannot be controlled by the Fed, further spotlighting the interconnectedness and globalization of the markets. If inflation continues to stay elevated coupled with slowing growth, credit should become an even larger portion of an investment portfolio.

Overall, we think this all points to the perpetual need for a diverse and sustainable approach to investing in corporate credit, an approach that marries the fundamentals and bottom up analysis with the swift ability to act, pivot and execute across a holistic set of solutions and broad range of market segments and capital bases. As a result, we have real time access to market movements that inform our views and promote our ability to execute with speed and certainty across all of our core competencies. At our core we are long term fundamental credit investors focused on delivering consistent returns with downside protection. The scale and breadth of KKR’s global portfolio means that our team is in the market all day, every day, sharing insights globally and working collaboratively to identify, extract and underwrite value. That is one element that is unique to us — we operate as one global team and the value of leadership and teamwork is unparalleled when it all comes together in a challenging environment. Given this market is going to test the time of patience, we believe it is important to have dry powder to lean in when there is volatility, scaled capital to address a multitude of investment scenarios and to remember to stay focused on the long term goal — delivering for our clients.

Background and Fund Performance

KKR Income Opportunities Fund (“KIO” or, the “Fund”) is a diversified, closed-end fund that trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “KIO.” The Fund’s primary investment objective is to seek a high level of current income with a secondary objective of capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objectives by employing a dynamic strategy of investing in a targeted portfolio of loans and fixed-income instruments (including derivatives) of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers and implementing hedging strategies in order to seek to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns. Under normal market conditions, KIO will invest at least

 

 

80% of its assets in loans and fixed-income instruments or other instruments, including derivative instruments, with similar economic characteristics. The Fund expects to invest primarily in first and second lien secured loans, unsecured loans and high-yield corporate debt instruments of varying maturities.

As of April 30, 2022, the Fund held 75.02% of its net assets in first and second-lien leveraged loans, 80.81% of its net assets in high-yield corporate debt, 2.67% of its net assets in preferred and common stock. KIO’s investments represented obligations and equity interests in 140 positions across a diverse group of industries. The top ten issuers represented 47.7% of the Fund’s net assets while the top five industry groups represented 62.46% of the Fund’s net assets. The Fund’s Securities and Exchange Commission 30-day yield was 9.95%.

Business Updates

We thank you for your partnership and continued investment in KIO. We look forward to continued communications and will keep you apprised of the progress of KIO specifically and the leveraged finance market place generally. Fund information is available on our website at kkrfunds.com/kio.

 

 

References:

1.	Bloomberg as of April 29, 2022.

2.	S&P LSTA and KKR Credit Analysis as of March 31, 2022.

3.	S&P LCD and KKR Credit Analysis as of March 31, 2022.

4.	S&P LSTA and KKR Credit Analysis as of March 31, 2022.

5.	ICE BofAML and KKR Credit Analysis as of March 31, 2022.

6.	S&P LCD and KKR Credit Analysis as of March 31, 2022.