Salllie Mae (SLM) is being take private by banks and private equity firms including JC Flowers & Co. and Friedman Fleischer & Lowe LLC. The price for the student loan company is $60 a share.
Congress has been after companies in the student loan business to provide more information about their lending practices. There are concerns that there have been abuses in the system and corruption in lending practices.
The buy-out price for Sallie Mae is about 50% more than the company traded for before word leaked out that there might be a purchase of the company. The leak, and whether anyone benefited, is another matter.
The companies highest stock price over the last five years is about $58, hit in early 2006. That has to raise the question of whether the markets are remarkably inefficient or the buy-out crowd is just smarter than any other group in the financial markets.
No one can be that smart.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
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