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.

How often does a company walk away from a $5 billion investment without even meeting with the people who made the offer? Sprint's (NYSE:S) board appears to have done that a week or so ago.

A team of Korean cell company SK Telecom and Providence Equity Partners suggested a $5 billion investment in a convertible security that would have set a price well above the current share value of just over $15. Not a bad deal. According to The Wall Street Journal, "the group said in a bid letter to the board that it was prepared to invest $5 billion or 'potentially substantially more' in the form of securities convertible into equity after some period of time at a stock price 20% higher than Sprint's share price."

But there was one catch. The group wanted former Sprint chairman Tim Donahue to run the company. Donahue was CEO of Nextel before it merged with Sprint.

The Sprint board did the right thing. There is no reason to believe that the company would not be able to raise capital elsewhere, although the terms may not be as good. It might even get a strategic investment from a large cable company that would want to market wireless products along with broadband and TV. But even if the investment is attractive, Donahue is an architect of one of the largest merger train wrecks of the last decade, a debacle that cost the Sprint CEO his job just two months ago.

Getting one of the villains to come back and play sheriff would send a very bad message to investors. They have already been hurt enough by poor earnings and a falling stock price.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE), the big Canadian phone company, is being bought out by the Teachers Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners Inc., and Madison Dearborn Partners LLC. Private equity comes to Canada. The price was over $48 billion.

The price is virtually no premium to the current value. The stock trades at $38. The rationale for this is that BCE's shares have risen about 40% since rumors about a buyout began to circulate in the spring. According to the company's PR statement: "The transaction values BCE at 7.8 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2007."

This is just the kind of transaction that institutional shareholders hate. And, it's probable that the purchase will be challenged by large mutual funds and pensions that own shares. The argument that the buyers make is that it's not their fault that rumors sent the share price up. The shareholders argue that there should be a premium to the current price regardless of what caused the shares to trade where they are.

Assume that this deal is not done yet.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Traditionally, private equity firms have focused on mainstream businesses. But, we are seeing more and more deals in the tech sector. In fact, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s buyout of DoubleClick was a sign that private equity can make a mint from tech.

According to a piece in The Wall Street Journal [a paid service], there's another important deal. That is, Providence Equity Partners has purchased a majority stake in NexTag for roughly $830 million.

Basically, NexTag is a comparison shopping site. And, yes, the space has been full of M&A deals over the past couple years -- such as Shopzilla, eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY)'s Shopping.com and so on.

Because NexTag is privately held, it's tough to gauge the revenues, but the rumor is that the figure is in the $200 million range. Thus, it looks like Providence is paying a hefty premium (at least by private equity standards).

My hunch is that this is a late-stage funding prior to an IPO or perhaps a sale to a major strategic player. But, this has historically been the role of VCs, not private equity firms. Yet with gazillions of dollars in the private equity space, we're probably going to see more unconventional deals.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

This morning's Wall Street Journal [subscription required] reports that Providence Equity Partners bought an $830 million stake in a privately-held Internet comparison shopping company. (Click here for my colleague, Tom Taulli's, perspective on this deal.) This could signal a top in the private equity cycle for two reasons:

• Private equity's loosening investment standards. In the past, a consistently profitable Internet company would be best off tapping the public markets in an IPO. NexTag's decision to take private equity instead of the IPO or corporate acquisition -- e.g., getting bought by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), or IAC Interactive Corp. (NASDAQ: IACI) -- markets suggests surprising weakness there, or a private equity market whose lax investment standards make it willing to pay more than public equity investors for NexTag.
• Scrambling out of the comfort zone. Providence Equity has typically made purchases of traditional media companies. Its move into the Internet business could either signal it no longer perceives that traditional media companies are worth taking private, that consumer Internet companies have greater appreciation potential, or that the hidden details of this particular deal were just too good to pass up. But NexTag's market is highly competitive (e.g., there are many competitors such as Lowermybills, Lending Tree, Pricegrabber, Bizrate, Shopzilla, and Bankrate) and these competitors must deal with significant business risks (such as changes in interest rates -- much of NexTag's business is mortgage related -- and disruptive technologies). It is unclear what unique sources of competitive advantage Providence Equity brings to NexTag as it faces these business challenges.

Providence Equity's deal appears to be a rich one. Its 66% stake in NexTag -- which operates sites in the U.S. and U.K. that allow 11 million consumers a month to find the best prices on products and services sold online by Web retailers -- values the San Mateo, CA company at $1.2 billion. NexTag's website claims that it operated profitably in every one of 15 straight quarters through July 2005. But in the absence of specific revenue and profit information it's difficult to know whether Providence Equity's price makes sense.

The $19.5 billion buyout of Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU) is still not very clear. Even when its buyers -- Thomas H. Lee and Bain Capital -- boosted the price to $39 from $37.50, some of Clear Channel's investors were not convinced.

But Clear Channel is not stopping. In fact, the firm is already paving the way for major changes.

This week, the firm sold its TV group for $1.2 billion to private equity firm Providence Equity Partners. The deal includes 56 stations.

There are also plans to sell off radio stations.

Basically, these actions are needed to pass muster with the antitrust authorities. Moreover, the cash will be helpful when debt is loaded on the balance sheet.

Yet, for Clear Channel to get its own buyout deal completed, it needs to secure a two-thirds vote from shareholders. That's a tough hurdle -- given the current stock price of $35.75, it looks like the mega deal probably won't happen.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

OK, so now Canadian teachers are in the buyout game? Actually, the answer is yes.

Well, it's through the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, which has a ton of capital to put to work. And it looks like the fund may make a bid for Bell Canada (NYSE: BCE). The deal might also include private equity firm Providence Equity Partners (the firm has purchased telecom companies in Denmark and Ireland).

In fact, the Ontario Teachers fund already holds a 5% stake in BCE.

OK, does this still seem far-fetched? Not necessarily. Basically, the Ontario Teachers is fairly aggressive and has done buyouts in the past.

BCE is also a good candidate for a transaction. Over the past year, the company has restructured operations – yet the stock price has not moved much (at least not until the buyout rumors emerged).

And, according to a story on CNBC, the buyout price is rumored to be $38 to $40. Currently, the stock price is up 7% to $30.27.

Although, as is common with these things, a deal can easily fall apart.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Providence Equity Partners, a top private equity firm, announced that it has raised $12 billion for its latest fund (Providence Equity Partners VI). The CEO said he was "gratified" (yes, this does seem like an understatement). It took only four months to raise the money.

Founded in 1990, Providence now manages about $21 billion in equity commitments in more than 100 companies in over 20 countries. Some of its transactions include: Freedom Communications, Idea Cellular, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, VoiceStream Wireless, Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) and Yankees Entertainment Sports Network.

As you can see, Providence does have a focus on media and communications. However, with its new fund, the firm may need to look beyond its industry focus in order to effectively put the money to work.

Of course, expect other mega funds to get closed, as well. And that means more competition for deals and higher valuations, which will certainly make it tough to continue generating the high-returns investors have come to expect.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

The rich are getting richer in the private equity world. According to a report from Bloomberg.com, it looks like Providence Equity Partners snagged $12 billion for its latest fund. Keep in mind that its prior fund was a mere $4.25 billion.

The main focus of Providence is on communications and media deals. Some of its transactions include Hallmark International, Freedom Communications and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The Providence fund is not the biggest. That distinction is likely to go to Blackstone, which is in the process of raising a $20 billion mega fund.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

The pursuit of the Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB) is no secret. But, is anyone willing to write a check to buy the firm? According to CNBC's M&A maestro, David Faber, it looks like the answer is "no."

Apparently there is no interest from private equity firms, such as Apollo Management, Providence Equity Partners, and Madison Dearborn Partners. No doubt, these firms had months to crunch the numbers. What's more, they have tremendous experience in the media industry. It looks like the price is too high (there may also be adverse tax consequences). Besides, the industry outlook for newspapers looks particularly bleak for the long-term.

However, Tribune may still find a buyer – it would likely be from a billionaire who wants a trophy but not necessarily an attractive business.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.