The graying Masters of the Universe at KKR could use some help with succession planning.
Investors are concerned about who will replace aging private-equity titans Henry Kravis and George Roberts after Alex Navab — considered a leading contender to helm the firm — suffered a recent health scare.
The 47-year-old Navab, who is co-head of private-equity for North America, collapsed during the annual meeting for fund investors in Los Angeles on June 25, according to three sources.
Members of Roberts’ personal security team, who are trained in CPR and were on hand for the event, were able to revive him, sources said.
Navab was diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmia, a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat, according to one source.
A KKR spokesperson said, “Alex is in excellent health and he has been back at full strength and full time at work for well over two weeks.”
Even before the incident, succession planning had been an issue for KKR, with investors wondering who would the lead the firm after Roberts, 68, and Kravis, 69, retire.
At KKR’s investor meeting in 2011, the co-founders and top executives sought to reassure investors that the firm had a deep bench.
However, one of KKR’s biggest investors told The Post he was aware of the incident at the annual meeting and it renewed his concerns about an heir apparent.
“I don’t know if this was life-altering for him,” the investor said of Navab. “I think it could be.”
At this year’s meeting, Kravis and Roberts told investors they will remain active at the firm for the next several years, although it is unclear whether their comments came before or after Navab’s collapse.
Still, it is widely believed that Kravis and Roberts will have to step back in the not-too-distant future.
Navab and Scott Nuttal, head of KKR’s Global Capital and Asset Management Group, are considered the most likely successors.
Recently, Navab has been the more public of the two. For instance, he is scheduled to give a one-on-one interview at the Private Equity Analyst Conference in September, where PE firms court state pension funds and other institutional investors.
Meanwhile, KKR has hit some bumps in the road.
After two-and-a-half years of fund-raising, the firm finally hit the $8 billion target it set for its 10th mainstream leveraged buyout fund — well short of the prior $17.7 billion fund it raised in 2006.
The earlier fund, which had a 5.6 annual return as of the end of last year, included the largest leveraged buyout in history: the $44 billion deal for Texas energy concern TXU, later renamed Energy Future Holdings, which is on the brink of bankruptcy.
KKR said yesterday that second-quarter earnings fell by 74 percent mostly because the value of companies it owned declined.
The shares dipped 1.3 percent to $20.67.
jkosman@nypost.com