Buyers back out

While most of the hundreds of billions of dollars of forthcoming LBO-related debt will either be syndicated in the short term or sit on banks’ balance sheets awaiting a more favourable market, banks and buyout shops are finding other ways to lessen the burden. Prospective buyers of Sallie Mae and Harman International, for example, are trying to back out of their agreements, with the use of material adverse change clauses. Others may follow. Timothy Sifert reports.