Three of the leading private equity firms on Wall Street have agreed to pay a combined $325 million to settle accusations that they colluded with one another to drive down the prices of corporate takeover targets, according to a court filing yesterday, the New York Times reported. The three firms — Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the Blackstone Group and TPG — have agreed to settle all claims without admitting wrongdoing, and they will decide among themselves how to split up the payment, the filing said. Of the seven defendants in the case, all but one have now settled. The latest agreement, if approved by the Federal District Court in Massachusetts, would resolve the role of the private equity firms in a seven-year-old lawsuit filed by former shareholders of companies that the firms acquired during the boom times before the financial crisis. The plaintiffs, which include pension funds and individual investors, had sought billions of dollars in compensation.
