Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co has filed to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, the private equity giant said on Friday.

KKR filed to list 204.9 million common units worth about $2.2 billion, and to trade under the symbol KKR, it said in a regulatory filing.

The units represent a 30 percent interest in KKR, which is currently listed on Euronext. The remaining 70 percent will be held by principals.

KKR did not immediately respond to a message seeking further comment.

New York-based KKR had been planning for two years to follow rival Blackstone Group LP in becoming a publicly traded company, but was held up by market turmoil.

The deal to become a publicly traded entity involved combining with KKR Private Equity Investors, a Guernsey limited partnership traded on Euronext and known as KPE.

KKR said at the time of the combination that after KKR and KPE combined, either KKR or KPE would have the right to require the other to use reasonable best efforts to list the combined business in the United States.

KKR originally announced plans to list on the NYSE via a traditional initial public offering in July 2007, a month after Blackstone went public and just before the markets started to tumble.

KKR later proposed the more complex method of going public, and last June it formally withdrew the traditional IPO plan but kept the door open for an NYSE move in the future.

(Reporting by Steve Eder and Megan Davies; editing by John Wallace)

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