Scott Nuttall, head of global capital and asset management at KKR, sees opportunities in both the energy and real estate sectors, as the private equity firm targets a big expansion in its investor base.

At the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Asset Management Conference in New York yesterday, Nuttall said that KKR had just 250 fund investors in 2008, a fraction of the more than 1,000 at its private equity rivals.