Biggest LBO of Year Signals Appetite May Be Growing: Real M&A

Carlyle Group LP’s $8 billion purchase of Symantec Corp.’s data-management business shows big buyouts can still happen.

The deal announced Tuesday was the largest private-equity takeover of a U.S. company so far this year. It may not hold that title through December. While the purchase price is a far cry from the record $45 billion spent on the buyout of TXU Corp. in 2007, there are signs that private-equity firms’ dealmaking ambitions are expanding as they seek to put record amounts of money to work.