...and sell down to hedge funds, CLOs and other banks in syndication. They no longer do that, so finding senior debt, in particular for very large transactions, is virtually impossible.

In mid-February this year, BC Partners acquired 51% of Migros Turk, Turkey's largest supermarket chain, in a deal financed by domestic banks Garanti Bank, Is Bank and Vakifbank.

The only way private equity firms can find people to take large tranches of senior debt is by finding more regional banks--such as in Scandinavia or perhaps in Switzerland--or incumbent banks desperate not to lose the deal.

However, while there is an unwillingness to underwrite, many banks are happy to take 20m [pounds sterling] stakes in deals. Typically, private equity firms have to put together a club of banks to get deals done...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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