PRIVATE-EQUITY barons once mused that the advent of the $100 billion leveraged buy-out (LBO) was only a matter of time. The financial crisis of 2007 punctured such lofty thoughts. But they revived this week, amid unconfirmed reports of an attempt to take Dell, a struggling computer-maker, private. If consummated, the deal would be roughly three

AT “55 Underwater”, as the building at 55 Water Street in lower Manhattan has been known since being flooded during Hurricane Sandy in October, the clean-up is almost over. A trove of soggy paper securities held there by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has been removed to a secret location for a process of “freeze-dried” rest