(Bloomberg) -- KKR & Co.’s distributable earnings surged 158% in the fourth quarter, beating Wall Street estimates, as the private equity giant took advantage of swelling asset prices to cash out of investments.

Asset exits totaled $919 million in the three months ended Dec. 31 and a record $2.1 billion for the full year, the New York-based company said Tuesday in a statement. The cut of profits awarded to KKR dealmakers surged 78% to $1.2 billion in 2021. 

It was a banner year for KKR and its publicly traded peers, with private equity exits in the U.S. reaching $850 billion, according to Pitchbook data. Carlyle Group Inc.’s dealmakers quadrupled their share of the profits, while those at Blackstone Inc. reaped twice as much as they did in 2020.

“We enter 2022 with significant momentum and continued conviction in our long-term growth prospects,” co-Chief Executive Officers Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall said in the statement. 

KKR sold a minority stake in solar developer Origis Energy in the fourth quarter for a $429 million profit. It also sold a minority position in semiconductor manufacturer Kokusai Electric and its stake in Apple Leisure Group, a hospitality business. 

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The strong sales have also helped private equity firms in their fundraising efforts. KKR took in a record $121 billion last year for various strategies, including its flagship buyout fund, infrastructure pool and a health-care vehicle. 

It was also a year of leadership changes for KKR. Founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts became co-executive chairmen and promoted Nuttall and Bae to their current posts. The firm awarded the new co-CEOs incentive packages that could hand each of them more than $1 billion of stock if they hit certain targets. 

Other fourth-quarter earnings highlights:

  • Distributable earnings totaled $1.59 a share, beating the $1.20 average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey
  • Assets under management rose 87% to $471 billion
  • Fee-paying assets increased 92% to $357 billion
  • KKR boosted its quarterly dividend by 1 cent to 15.5 cents per share
  • Dry powder, or the amount of cash available for investment, totaled $112 billion, a 67% increase from the same period a year earlier

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