The Goldman Sachs Group and Bain Capital Partners have agreed to pay a total of $121 million in settlement of a lawsuit that alleged that certain private equity firms conspired amongst one another not to outbid each other on certain transactions.
Goldman Sachs Group will pay $67 million and Bain Capital Partners will pay $54 million. Both Goldman and Bain did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement agreement. Five defendants remain: Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR, Silver Lake and TPG.
The preliminary settlement with former shareholders of companies acquired in leveraged buyouts from 2003 to 2007 was disclosed in papers filed on Wednesday in Boston federal court, and still requires approval by US District Judge William Young.
Ernesto Anguilla, a Bain Capital spokesman, said in a statement, “We continue to believe the case is meritless and baseless, but ultimately determined that it was best for our investors and our firm to put this matter behind us in light of the costs and distraction of six years of litigation.”
In 2007, the seven defendants were charged in the US District Court, District of Massachusetts, with a market allocation and bid-rigging conspiracy that violates parts of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The plaintiffs sought damages as a result of the defendants’ alleged collusion to not bid against each other on deals to drive down the prices of many takeovers of publicly traded companies.
The remaining five defendants will head to trial which is scheduled for November 3, 2014.
2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 6-12-14
