In August, Merrill Lynch announced the sale of $30.6 billion of US CDOs to Lone Star funds for an average price of 22 cents on the dollar (see Banking: It’s time to sell off or shape up, Euromoney, September 2008). And just weeks later, the German government approved a sale of development bank KfW’s 90.8% stake in corporate lender IKB Deutsche Industriebank to Lone Star for an "adequate, positive purchase price". As part of the deal, Lone Star will assume €3.3 billion of IKB’s questionable loans,...
