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Blackstone Inc., Apollo Global Management Inc. and KKR & Co. are among private equity firms that are facing a Justice Department investigation into whether they influence boards across corporate America in ways that violate antitrust laws, Bloomberg News reported. Federal investigators are examining whether private equity firms’ practice of placing executives on boards of companies in the same sector harms competition. Antitrust enforcers are concerned that board directors with seats on rivals in the same sector could influence those companies to act in ways that maximize gains for all — instead of competing vigorously to provide the best services or lowest prices to consumers. The Justice Department’s antitrust division has sent so-called civil investigative demands, which are similar to subpoenas, to Blackstone, Apollo and KKR on this matter, the people said. The firms are among a swath of large and small private equity companies that have been sent the letters in the past month. The new inquiry is separate from routine antitrust reviews of deals that are before the agency.

Private capital investors expect to increase their volume of dealmaking globally in the coming months, widening the chasm with moribund public markets, Bloomberg News reported. Two-thirds of 30 investment firms surveyed by UK investment bank Numis Securities Ltd. see an increase in the number of private companies raising capital in the next six months, according to Rachel Stott, an associate director on the bank’s growth capital solutions team. Respondents included Softbank Group Corp., Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst. “While most remain deeply pessimistic about the macro environment, with nine in ten anticipating worse conditions ahead, the overarching and encouraging theme we are hearing from investors is that activity levels will pick up,” Stott said in a interview. Even the largest startups are turning to deep private capital pools to fund investment, while shunning public market listings given declining risk appetite. But stock market volatility has weighed on valuations recently, causing some private firms to swallow hefty markdowns.