WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States filed a civil suit on Tuesday against private equity firm KKR & Co “for repeatedly flouting the pre-merger antitrust review process,” alleging the company had avoided antitrust scrutiny for at least 16 transactions between 2021 and 2022.
“By omitting documents, altering them, and failing to report transactions, KKR threatened the integrity of the division’s pre-merger (antitrust) reviews and, in some cases, obscured the market impact of its serial transactions and acquisitions,” said Doha Mekki, a Justice Ministry official.
In a related lawsuit filed Tuesday against the DOJ in federal court in Washington, KKR said: “After an extensive investigation that lasted nearly three years – with which KKR fully cooperated – the alleged filing ‘errors’ identified by the Antitrust Division are insignificant. .”
“Not a single alleged ‘error’ was material or interfered with any merger review,” KKR added.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Doina Chiacu and Rod Nickel)