It is the last big buyout left from 2007, the leveraged deal to take Bell Canada (NYSE: BCE) private. The transaction is worth almost $52 billion. Like several LBOs before it, banks are negotiating to get a better price, or kill the deal.
According to The New York Times, "The negotiations over the Bell Canada buyout began to fray late Friday." Banks in the deal, including Citigroup (NYSE: C), want higher interest rates and other concessions. The private equity firms trying to close the transaction, which include Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners, may elect to sue the banks to close. The tactic was used in the buyout of Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU). It worked, but the price still ended up lower than the original offer.
Since the banks have no shame in walking away from these deals, in many cases, observers probably hope courts will force closing on the terms that each party signed up for. But that is merely a child's fantasy. BCE trades at just under $39 after hitting $44 last November.
After hard negotiating and a threat of court visits, watch for a deal to get done below $40.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 letter.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-19-2008 @ 11:34AM
David Huston said...
Along similar lines, prime borrowers/homeowners whose loans adjust upward and whose home values have collapsed and who are confronting foreclosure need to join together (somehow) and propose new deals with their lender/banks to refinance, recognizing current home prices and reducing inflated interest rates, otherwise they will all simply walk away from their prime loans.