While club deals have grown in popularity in recent years, there are many issues that can arise related to regulatory practices, conflicts of interest and market-cornering. For example, there are concerns that club deals decrease the amount of money that shareholders receive, as a group of private equity firms has fewer parties to bid against.
There are some private-equity firms that do not engage in club deals as a rule, but the choice is up to the firm and the wishes of the limited partners who make most of the big money decisions within those firms. As with many large private equity deals, the main objective is to fix up and then dress up the acquisition for future sale to the public.