Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital Agree to $121 Million Settlements in LBO Antitrust Violations Case

MINNEAPOLIS--June 2014–Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. is pleased to announce that The Goldman Sachs Group and Bain Capital Partners have agreed to pay a total $121 million in settlement of the firm’s class of plaintiffs clients in Dahl v. Bain Capital Partners. Bain has agreed to a settlement for $54 million, and Goldman Sachs agreed to a $67 million settlement, as two of seven defendants in that case. Plaintiffs are former shareholders of certain public companies who sold their shares to the Defendant private equity firms in large leveraged buyouts ("LBOs") announced between 2003 and 2007.

In 2007, the defendants, all major U.S. private equity firms, were charged in the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, with a market allocation and bid-rigging conspiracy that violates Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1. The five other private equity firms include The Blackstone Group L.P., The Carlyle Group LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., L.P., Silver Lake Technology Management L.L.C. and TPG Capital L.P. 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.

“We went toe-to-toe with the defendants over the past seven years and Bain and Goldman Sachs are the first defendants to agree to settlement terms. We look forward to a trial against the remaining defendants, currently scheduled for November,” said K. Craig Wildfang, co-lead counsel for plaintiffs and co-chair of the Antitrust & Trade Regulation practice at the firm.

Wildfang led class plaintiffs in another recent case and reached an historic $7.25 billion antitrust settlement in 2013 on behalf of a class of over eight million U.S. merchants who accept Visa and MasterCard credit cards. He is co-lead counsel in the Dahl case, along with firm partners Thomas Undlin and Stacey Slaughter. The law firms Scott + Scott and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd also acted as co-counsel for plaintiffs.

Additional stories:

• Law360: "With Goldman, Bain Out, PE Players Pressured To Cut Deals"

“Goldman, Bain to Pay $121 Million to Settle Lawsuit” The Wall Street Journal