Merrill’s CDO deal with Lone Star: the fire sale of the century

John Thain still has a firm hand on the tiller at Merrill Lynch, but the ship is so badly holed that he has had to resort to throwing the cargo overboard. By selling $30.6bn of CDOs to Lone Star, Mother Merrill has abandoned all dignity and allowed herself to be well and truly worked over by the Texans. This is no sale but a thinly disguised giveaway.