by Calculated Risk on 9/14/2007 04:36:00 PM

More on potential 'pier loans' ... (bridge loans by investment banks that stay on the balance sheet, aka 'bridges to nowhere').

From Bloomberg: First Data Bankers Reduce Buyout Loan, Offer Discount

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s bankers, struggling to find investors to finance the purchase of First Data Corp., reduced the loan sale to $5 billion and are offering the debt at a discount...

Credit Suisse, which is leading the financing, will meet with investors Sept. 17 to seek buyers for a seven-year loan at 96 cents on the dollar ... The loans will be offered at 2.75 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate. Credit Suisse is also offering to lend some investors money to help them buy the debt ...
...
``It's a good sign that they were able to agree to a package to bring to investors,'' said Robert L. Lee, the analyst who covers First Data for KDP Investment Advisors Inc. in Montpelier, Vermont. ``It sounds like the terms are firm.''

Even if this goes through, the banks will still be stuck with substantial pier loans. The total financing consists of $16 billion in loans and another $8 billion of junk bonds.