Cerberus Capital Management has pulled out of its $7bn deal to buy United Rentals, making the planned private equity takeover of the world’s largest equipment lender the latest casualty of the credit squeeze. The news sent the company’s shares plunging 30% to $23.76. Cerberus had agreed in July to pay $34.50 per share. United Rentals said Cerberus’ action was “unwarranted and incompatible with the covenants of the merger agreement”. Amid fresh concerns over the ability of private equity groups to fund LBO deals, bankers for TPG and Goldman Sachs were on Wednesday struggling to find investors for loans funding the $27bn buy-out of Alltel, the US wireless carrier. The underwriters reduced the size of the loan package to $4.89bn from $6bn and increased the discount on the issue to 96 cents on the dollar from 97.5 cents.
