KKR to Pay $250 Million to Resolve DOJ Merger Filing Lawsuit

Private equity giant KKR & Co. has agreed to pay $250 million to resolve a civil antitrust case filed by the U.S. Justice Department alleging the investment firm intentionally withheld documents from government-required merger reviews on more than a dozen deals, the largest-ever penalty for filing violations.

The settlement was announced in a federal court filing late Wednesday. The agreement applies to all of the private equity firm’s entities on any deals filed before 2025.

In a lawsuit filed in the final week of the Biden Administration, the Justice Department sought $650 million in civil penalties over KKR’s alleged failure to comply with the merger disclosure requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino, or HSR Act, on at least 16 deals. The transactions were valued at a total of more than $24.7 billion at the time, according to a Bloomberg tally of takeovers cited by the complaint.

KKR and the DOJ had previously reached a tentative settlement for the company to pay around $250 million in penalties shortly before the 2024 presidential election, Bloomberg previously reported, but never finalized the deal.

Top photo: KKR & Co. Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg.