jonathan

American Capital Strategies Illustrates Private Equity Risks in Merisel Pull Out

Guys you may want to ease up a bit. The author did not accuse ACAS of anything, nor did he state or imply that they were acting in a crooked or unfair manner. All he did is lay out a pretty well-structured view of the deal and some of the risks on both sides.
If I were making the decisions at ACAS I might have done the same thing (pulled out looking to take advantage of Merisel's situation). That's just doing business. ACAS has a duty to it's own shareholders, not to Merisel's. I am sure they weighed/are weighing the potential damage to reputation as part of that.

I appreciate Thomas' analysis but I would come to a different end. I doubt that ACAS' tactic will be seen as scorched earth. Everyone knows the market is rough right now so I doubt this return-maximizing is considered anything more than hard-core business.

I also doubt Merisel will have an easy time finding another buyer. There are not many out there at the moment. That will probably change end of the year but for now ACAS is probably their only easy option.