Lone Star Funds has agreed to buy $30.6 billion in collateralized debt obligations for pennies on the dollar from Merrill Lynch.
The $23 billion Dallas-based private equity firm will pay just $6.7 billion for the securitized loans, less than one-quarter of their face value. The deal accounts for $4.4 billion of the $5.7 billion in third-quarter writedowns taken by Merrill on Monday. The writedown finances about 75% of Lone Star’s purchase, Merrill said.
Lone Star recently raised two funds with $10 billion in commitments.
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