Battle for Home Depot taking shape?

Nothing would get Wall Street's juices flowing like a good old-fashioned buyout battle. People are still wondering whether the Blackstone Group will take on KKR and Texas Pacific for TXU. If it did, it would make for some odd partnerships--odd for anywhere except the clubby private equity world. Home Depot just might auction itself, and the list of interested sponsors include the following: a team that includes Bain Capital, Carlyle and Clayton Dubilier & Rice; a team of Thomas H. Lee Partners, Goldman Sachs and the CCMP and a third that includes the Blackstone Group, KKR, Leonard Green Partners and Texas Pacific Group. So there you have it. The two preeminent firms could both be partners and competitive bidders. This makes the anti-trust case that much more complicated.

For more:
- here's the Financial Times article