NEW YORK: KKR & Co., the private-equity firm run by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, plans to create a company with former Kaplan Inc. Chairman Jonathan Grayer, according to a person familiar with the agreement.

The company, to be called Weld North LLC, may be announced as soon as Jan. 26, according to the person, who declined to be named because the announcement hasn't been made. KKR declined to comment. Grayer couldn't be reached.

Private-equity firms including New York-based KKR are seeking deals other than traditional leveraged buyouts that rely on borrowed money as the industry recovers from an almost three- year slump. KKR collaborated last year with Bertelsmann AG to create BMG Rights Management GmbH to license music rights.

Grayer, 45, resigned from Kaplan, the Washington Post's test-preparation company, in November 2008. The company had $80 million in sales when Grayer took over in 1994 and $2.3 billion when he left.

KKR, which combined with its publicly traded European fund last year and trades in Amsterdam, has said it may shift the listing to the New York Stock Exchange.

The creation of Weld North was reported earlier today by the Wall Street Journal's Web site.