A lawsuit accusing the nation’s biggest buyout firms of colluding to drive down prices on deals is likely headed to trial.
A federal judge in Boston denied a motion to dismiss the case — which accused 10 private-equity firms of costing shareholders billions by keeping prices artificially low — for a second time.
In his ruling, Judge Edward Harrington said shareholders could pursue their claims against eight firms: KKR, Bain Capital, Silver Lake Partners, Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, TPG Capital, THL Partners and Goldman Sachs.
He dismissed the case against two others, Apollo Global Management and Providence Equity Partners. Earlier, he released JPMorgan Chase from the suit.
The plaintiffs were shareholders in once publicly traded companies that were bought by the PE firms between 2003 and 2007. The suit originally challenged 27 transactions, including the takeovers of the HCA hospital chain and Freescale Semiconductor.
In March, Harrington reduced the number of buyouts to eight, involving only those in which private-equity firms agreed not to “jump” each other’s announced deals.
That reduced the total value of the deals in question to $170 billion from $270 billion. Damages could still reach the billions, sources said.
jkosman@nypost.com