The Japanese unit of legendary US-based private investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has promoted Shusaku Minoda to chairman from his position as managing director and chief executive officer.

He will be replaced by Hirofumi Hirano, who joins from restructuring firm AlixPartners Asia, where he was managing director and head of the Asia financial service industry practice. Both appointments are effective from 15 April 2013.

KKR has specialised in activities such as leveraged buyouts of companies and was the subject of a best-selling book, Barbarians At The Gate, covering the sometimes controversial effects of actions such as the buyout of RJR Nabisco in the late 1980s.

Prior to joining AlixPartners, Hirano was chief executive of the merchant-banking group of Nikko Cordial Group and also chairman of Nikko Principal Investments. During his career he also served as a director of numerous companies, including Nikko Citigroup and Nikko Asset Management.

"The appointment of Hiro Hirano is an important step forward as Kohlberg Kravis continues to grow our private equity franchise and broaden our focus to other areas of asset management and capital markets. Hiro has a unique combination of private equity investing and operational consulting with a 30-year track record of helping Japanese companies revitalise their businesses and expand globally to achieve their full potential," said Joseph Bae, managing partner of Kohlberg Kravis Asia.

Founded in 1976, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has $75.5 billion in assets under management as of 31 December 2012.