HCA Buyout Highlights Era of Going Private

HCA's agreement Monday to sell itself to a private equity consortium for more than $30 billion might be the largest leveraged buyout on record, but it also underscores a growing debate about whether the recent string of take-private deals is likely to continue. Some analysts say the surge in these debt-financed transactions is near a peak, with financing conditions expected to worsen. Others, however, predict that the buyout spree will go on, as a slew of big public companies, fed up with scrutiny from investors and regulators, sell themselves to private equity firms.