Wall Street’s $38 Billion Loan Backlog Curbs New Bank Lending

  • Banks are preparing to fund $5.4 billion of debt for Tenneco
  • Pile of hung loans on bank books could soon reach $43 billion
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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Wall Street is struggling to whittle down the roughly $37.5 billion in risky corporate loans stuck on their books -- and the pile of so-called hung debt may be about to swell further as another large buyout financing stumbles.

A group of banks led by Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. have just days to try to sell $2.4 billion of debt that will help fund the buyout of auto-parts maker Tenneco Inc. by Apollo Global Management Inc. before the deal closes on Nov. 17.