#10. KKR Wangles Biggest LBO Ever
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and partner Texas Pacific Group acquired TXU, a Dallas-based utility company, for $45 billion in the biggest leveraged buyout ever. Still too cheap, carped the critics. Yet there might be something here for everyone. Environmentalists got religion about the buyout when KKR announced it would nix eight of the 11 coal-fired power plants TXU planned to build. Shareholders got $69.50, a 15% premium, and consumers were promised a rate decrease. But after that, all bets are off.