Sallie Mae Takeover Gets Antitrust Clearance

WASHINGTON – Federal antitrust regulators have cleared the massive takeover of student loan giant Sallie Mae by private equity fund J.C. Flowers & Co. and student loan competitors Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. The group has agreed to pay $60 a share, or $25 billion, for Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest provider of student loans and related services, which manages more than $150 billion in student loans. Chase and BofA are also among the top five providers of student loans in the country. Sallie Mae was chartered in 1972 to provide a secondary market for guaranteed student loans originated by credit unions and banks–like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do for the mortgage market–but shed its government charter in recent years, which enabled it to become the largest originator of student loans in direct competition with its credit union and bank customers.