戴尔（Dell）收购案一拖再拖，似将绵绵无绝期，但它历时之长远非空前绝后。

    就我所知，历史上历时最长的正式收购过程当属贝恩资本（Bain Capital）和Thomas H. Lee Partners收购广播电视巨头分明频道通信公司（Clear Channel Communications）。

    分明频道通信公司于2006年11月14日宣布，将接受贝恩和THL公司以每股37.60美元的价格收购（公司总值约187亿美元）。但这笔交易直到20多个月之后（2008年7月30日）才最终达成，成交价为每股36美元。

    分明频道通信公司宣布接受收购之后，直到收购最终完成之前，状况不断：

• 先是股东反对，称收购价太低。

• 分明频道通信公司另外以10亿美元的价格，将近500个广播电台和电视台卖给了私募资本Providence Equity Partners。

• 报价一度提高至每股39.20美元，公司和贷方都接受了这个价格。

• 全球信贷紧缩来袭，贷方随后拒绝为这笔交易提供任何资金。

• 贝恩和THL起诉相关银行，最终达成和解协议。根据协议，银行将以每股36美元的标准提供资金。

    相比之下，现在距离戴尔公司同意私有化才过去了半年。比起著名的RJR Nabisco交易——《门口的野蛮人》（Barbarians at the Gate）一书即以此为主题——的时间跨度长了一倍，但还不到传奇的分明频道交易案的三分之一呢。

    而且，除非卡尔•伊坎能说服法院相信，戴尔公司的特别委员会是迈克尔•戴尔的傀儡——这会很难，因为该委员会已经成功要到了更高的价格，否则这桩交易案从头到尾耗时应该不会超过一年。

    戴尔收购案确实有些没完没了，但我们也不是没见过更糟糕的……（财富中文网）

    译者：项航 

    The Dell (DELL) buyout seems to have been dragging on forever, but it has a long ways to go before calling the folks at Guinness.

    From what I can tell, the longest formal buyout process of all time belongs to Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners' pursuit of Clear Channel Communications.

    In that case, Clear Channel announced on Nov. 14, 2006 that it would be acquired by Bain and THL for $37.60 per share (total value of around $18.7 billion). But the deal did not close until more than 20 months later (July 30, 2008), at a price of $36 per share.

    In between were:

• Shareholder objections that the price was too low.

• A separate $1 billion deal to sell around 500 radio and TV stations to Providence Equity Partners.

• An increased offer price of $39.20 per share that was accepted by the company and the lenders.

• Lenders balking at funding the deal at all, in the wake of a global credit crunch.

• Bain and THL suing the banks, and reaching a settlement whereby they would fund at $36 per share.

    In contrast, it only has been six months since Dell agreed to be taken private. That's twice as long as the famed RJR Nabisco deal -- as memorialized in Barbarians at the Gate -- but so far less than one-third of the Clear Channel saga.

    And unless Carl Icahn manages to convince a court that Dell's special committee is improperly in Michael Dell's back pocket -- a tough sell, given that it has successfully extracted a higher price -- then the whole thing should wrap up within one year of the original offer.