Following Wednesday's bad news about the SLM Corp. buyout, journalists and
bloggers are turning their eyes to the $22 billion LBO of apartment REIT
Archstone-Smith Trust. The chatter surrounds a $3.15 billion debt package,
which some investors say Lehman Brothers Inc. has priced as if the credit
crunch never happened. So, could the Archstone deal succeed where the buyouts
of Sallie Mae and Harman International Industries Inc. failed? —The editors
In my opinion, the buyers are more interested in getting Sallie Mae to renegotiate the deal than they are in walking away from it. Knowledge Maps from NewsVisual indicate that Sallie Mae has very strong corporate connections to both JPMorgan and BofA http://www.newsvisual.com/newsvisual/2007/09/jp-morgan-and-s.html . The buyers were most likely aware of this and used these connections to pressure Sallie Mae on several fronts to get them to renegotiate.
In my opinion, the buyers are more interested in getting Sallie Mae to renegotiate the deal than they are in walking away from it. Knowledge Maps from NewsVisual indicate that Sallie Mae has very strong corporate connections to both JPMorgan and BofA http://www.newsvisual.com/newsvisual/2007/09/jp-morgan-and-s.html . The buyers were most likely aware of this and used these connections to pressure Sallie Mae on several fronts to get them to renegotiate.