In the early to mid-1980s, a business practice known as a "leveraged buyout" became popular as a method for companies to expand without having to spend any of their own assets. The leveraged buyout was not without its problems, however, an
A leveraged buyout entails one company purchasing another using the assets of the purchased company as the collateral to secure the funds needed to buy that company. The leveraged buyout allows companies to take on debt that their own assets would have been insufficient to secure in order to finance expansion. Basically the buyer uses the company as a guarantee. The main risk is that the company assets may lost value and worth less than the credit so the buyer will have to pay the difference.
