Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), Blackstone, and TPG have settled a lawsuit for $325 million that claimed they had conspired and fixed prices in leveraged buyout deals, according to court filings.
The three private equity firms denied all wrongdoing despite settling the seven-year-long litigation, the filing said, and will decide among themselves how to divide up the payment.
“Settling acquisition-related litigation is frequently in the best interest of our investors, on whose behalf we pursue these acquisitions,” KKR said. “While we continue to believe that the plaintiffs’ allegations are spurious, we determined that after seven years, it was best for KKR and our limited partners to put an end the distraction and expense of this litigation.”
Both Blackstone and TPG declined to comment.
Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Silver Lake also recently resolved the suit for $54 million, $67 million, and $29.5 million respectively, leaving Carlyle Group as the sole remaining defendant.
“These claims are without merit and we will continue to vigorously contest the allegations,” a Carlyle spokesperson said in a statement.
As part of their settlement—to be approved by the Federal District Court in Massachusetts—KKR, Blackstone, and TPG have agreed to cooperate with the plaintiffs in prosecuting Carlyle, the filing said.
Carlyle is due to go to court in November.
The lawsuit—filed in 2007 by shareholders, a trust, and a public retirement trust fund—claimed a number of private equity firms had “participated in an unlawful conspiracy to raise, fix, maintain, or stabilize the price of large leveraged buyouts, announced between 2003 and 2007, to allocate deal outcomes and purchase target companies at artificially suppressed prices, depriving shareholders of a true and fair market value.”
The court filings cited more than 19 “club deals” that totaled more than $2.5 billion.
Related Content: Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital Settle Antitrust Violation Suit