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A s highlighted in previous commentaries,(1) the risk that private equity funds (PEFs) can be held liable for competition law infringements is no longer purely hypothetical. In the past few months, developments in the US and in Europe have further shown that private equity funds must pay attention to competition law.
Bidding practices in the US
In the United States, a class action brought against seven PEFs accused of collusion in the conduct of company buyouts has resulted in a settlement totaling USD 590m (EUR520m). The case was brought before the US District Court of Massachussetts, Dahl et al. v Bain Capital Partners LLC et al., by former shareholders in companies bought out by PEFs by leveraged buyouts (LBOs) between 2003 and 2007. The PEFs,...
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