There has been much speculation about the reasons for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts' (KKR) interest in Perpetual, because on many fronts the offer does not make sense.

It has been illustrated that KKR would have limited ability to gear up Perpetual, because it would dent the reputation of the firm as a safe house for investors.

Money could be made on a restructuring of the firm that would include a divestment of the corporate trust business - as the individual parts of the fund manager would probably bring in more than the sum of its parts - but there is hardly a reason why KKR should be involved in a break-up of the firm.

The problem with all of these explanations is that they look at the acquisition of Perpetual through the eyes of a private equity firm.

Perhaps KKR does not see this as a private equity transaction at all.

KKR, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange on 15 July, has been diversifying its activities beyond its core private equity businesses, with additions to its fixed income and capital markets divisions.

Its latest purchase was the New York proprietary trading desk of Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs Principal Strategies, earlier this month, adding a firm with a rich history and whose former employees include hedge fund managers like Edward S Lampert, Eric Mindich and Daniel S Och.

"This is part of a strategic build-out of our asset management platform," KKR said in an emailed statement to various United States media firms.

Although a proprietary trading desk, which uses its own money to trade, is quite different from a fund manager, which uses clients' money to invest, the takeover of Perpetual could very well be part of KKR's strategy to diversify its business rather than a lucrative private equity transaction.

The benefits of exposure to Australia have been outlined numerous times and include the mandated growth of the superannuation industry, its ties to the Chinese economic expansion and the nearly undisputed ability of active asset managers to deliver outperformance in domestic equities.

If you had to start from scratch to build a global asset management business, a presence in Australia would make a lot of sense.

Perhaps KKR is in it for the long haul.