We've noted that the collateralized loan obligation (CLO) market is throwing a wrench into the private equity deal machinery that was once humming so finely. One guru, Bill Gross, says the easy deal days are over. Here's some perspective, according to Fitch, there have been 15 deals restructured in the leveraged loan market, and a few more that have been pulled all together, such as planned offerings by US Foodservice and Chrysler. Deals that are getting done are hardly fully distributed. So to getting one done may require some price action. But unfortunately, as Investment Dealers' Digest notes, once an investment bank locks in a price with a financial sponsor and a commitment paper is inked, there's little incentive to offer a higher interest rate to investors so the bank can resell the loans. This is a tense stand-off in a sense between the top private equity firms and banks. It would be best if both blinked.  

For more:
- here's the article
- here' an article on Bill Gross's thoughts from Financial Week