CDOs for sale. Real cheap. That sums up the strategy behind Merrill Lynch's decision on July 28 to offload the bulk of its collateralized debt obligations to vulture investor Lone Star Funds. Lone Star is paying $6.7 billion for CDOs that were once valued at $30 billion. The bargain-bin sale will prompt Merrill, which already has absorbed upwards of $40 billion in losses on rotting mortgage-related securities, to record another hefty write-down. Lone Star, which is putting up a mere $1.68 billion in cash, takes on little risk in the transaction because Merrill is loaning it the rest. Merrill is also raising $8.5 billion by issuing new stock. So far, Wall Street is taking the deal as a sign that CEO John Thain is finally cleaning house, which may prompt other big banks to do the same.
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机译：出售CDO。真正便宜。这是美林证券7月28日决定将其大部分抵押债券义务转移给秃头投资者Lone Star Funds的战略总结。 Lone Star将以67亿美元的价格收购曾经价值300亿美元的CDO。便宜货的出售将促使美林证券（Merrill）记录另一笔沉重的减记，美林证券已经吸收了多达400亿美元的烂掉抵押贷款相关证券的损失。仅持有16.8亿美元现金的Lone Star在交易中承担的风险很小，因为美林将其余部分借给了它。美林还通过发行新股筹集了85亿美元。到目前为止，华尔街已将这笔交易视为首席执行官约翰·塞恩（John Thain）最终清理房屋的信号，这可能会促使其他大型银行也这样做。
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