Banks re-negotiate terms now BCE deal has green light

The four main banks financing the leveraged buyout of Canadian telecoms group BCE, which received final legal clearance last week, are once again negotiating to change the terms of the deal in their favour, reports the Financial Times. The USD51 billion cash and debt takeover by a consortium led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan was scheduled to be completed by the end of this month, but the private equity buyers and the banks are locked in ‘intense’ talks over financing terms, with the lenders seeking ‘significant’ concessions, according to a source close to the situation quoted by the British newspaper. The financers in question are Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Toronto-Dominion Bank, with the situation complicated by the fact that Toronto-Dominion Bank is also providing equity for the deal, alongside US-based private equity houses Providence, Madison Dearborn and Merrill Lynch.