Two of the seven giant private-equity firms charged civilly with collusion to keep the price of their buyouts artificially low have settled, The Post has learned.
Bain Capital will pay $54 million and Goldman Sachs will fork over $67 million to settle the charges against them, according to a court filing Wednesday.
The settlement puts pressure on the remaining defendants — KKR, Blackstone, Carlyle, TPG Capital and Silver Lake Partners — to settle before an expected November trial.
Shareholders in the blockbuster suit claim the seven buyout firms, among the biggest in the country, defrauded them out of billions of dollars by agreeing to stay out of each other’s deals. Eight buyouts cited in the case total $170 billion.
The firms allegedly agreed from 2004 through 2008 to stay out of each other’s signed deals.
The plaintiffs are eyeing an overall settlement of at least $1 billion, The Post reported last year.
Money recovered in the proposed settlements may go to former shareholders of AMC Entertainment, SunGard Data Systems, Aramark, Kinder Morgan, HCA, Freescale Semiconductor, Harrah’s Entertainment and TXU.