Reuters - Judge Narrows PE Collusion Lawsuit
A federal judge narrowed a closely watched lawsuit accusing some of the world's largest private equity firms of colluding to drive down prices on companies they sought to buy, costing shareholders of the acquired businesses billions of dollars, Reuters reported. Despite letting part of the main claim go forward, U.S. District Judge Edward Harrington in Boston dealt the plaintiffs a significant setback in finding they fell short of showing an "overarching" conspiracy to drive down prices on takeovers valued at roughly a quarter trillion dollars. The civil antitrust lawsuit was brought in 2007 against 11 defendants, including prominent private equity firms such as Bain Capital Partners LLC, Blackstone Group LP, Carlyle Group LP, Goldman Sachs Group Inc's private equity arm, KKR & Co and TPG Capital Management LP.
