Macquarie: Debt to displeasure

People wondered why Macquarie Bank pitched its £1.5bn bid for the London Stock Exchange so low as to have almost no chance of success. Now it has shown in its offer document why it is being so mean. One big constraint is leverage. Dresdner Bank is providing £1.3bn of debt, which represents about 10 times expected ebitda. That’s pretty aggressive even in today’s ebullient private equity environment. It is not clear how much further the envelope could be pushed. Already, to satisfy the UK Financ...