A private equity consortium led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is believed to have bought Toys R Us with a $5.7bn (€4.26bn) winning bid in an auction run by Credit Suisse First Boston.

The New York Times reports the bid represented an 8% premium over last night's closing price, beating competition from a rival consortium comprising Cerberus Capital, an alternative asset manager, Goldman Sachs and Kimco Realty, a property investment firm.