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Everyone knows that leveraged buyout booms end with terrific busts. After all, the 1980s LBO frenzy concluded with a big chunk of corporate America limping through bankruptcy courts. But history may not repeat itself. One reason: private equity shops are exploiting new flexible financing terms that may help them ride out the next downturn. Many deals today are backed by loans that don’t have the limits on additional borrowing and the stringent financial performance goals that lenders demanded i...