<p style="line-height: 20.8px;">KKR knocked on the door of more than 20 banks, including some it rarely borrows from, as it sought financing for the deal, but none would provide the full debt package the buyout firm was seeking, according to sources familiar with the events. The sources asked not to be identified because deliberations were confidential. In the end, KKR was able to raise the money itself and clinched the deal last week. It issued and underwrote more than US$700 million of debt, and used its own capital markets desk to sell most to pension funds and other asset managers, a labourious process that took more than a month. KKR owns a small portion of the debt, the sources said, though they were not specific about the amount.</p>