Private Equity Gets Hit With Class Action Suit

Oh, you could totally see this coming. After the Justice Department started poking around the private equity world asking questions about the potentially anti-competitive effects of club deals, it was only a matter of time before the class action lawyers recruited hooked-up with some plaintiffs and filed a suit. The theory was already created for them by the Justice Department, and the potential of having the Justice Department on their side was too good to pass up.
In the dock are KKR, Carlyle, Apollo, Bain Capital, Blackstone, Clayton, Carlyle, Dubilier & Rice, KKR, Madison Dearborn, Merrill Lynch, Providence, Silver Lake, Tommy Lee and Warburg Pincus.
We'll leave it to others to debate the merits of the suit but we will say that if it were successful, it would have huge effects on the way private equity firms operate. And, regardless of the lawsuit's eventual outcome, if this case goes to trial, well, we cannot even begin to imagine the awesomeness of the testimony that will be delivered about the inner workings of these private equity shops.
KKR, Carlyle, 11 Others Accused of Rigging Buyouts [Bloomberg]