Nabisco by legendary PE firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co ( KKR ). The largest deal ever done was KKR and Texas Pacific Group's $45 billion buyout of TXU Corp in early 2007 (though interestingly, the Nabisco deal is still the largest LBO in history in inflation-adjusted dollars). The drama and intrigue of the $31.1 billion mega-deal was memorialized in the book and made-for-TV-movie, Barbarians at the Gate , and led Time Magazine to run a cover asking the question, "Has the buyout craze gone too far?"