JPMorgan’s $20 Billion EA Deal Marks Win Over Private Credit (2)

The $55 billion take-private of Electronic Arts Inc. has evoked several superlatives, including being heralded as the biggest leveraged buyout of all time. Part of that list is JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s $20 billion of financing — the largest debt commitment ever by a single bank for such a deal.

It marks the biggest win yet for Wall Street lenders that have sought to fend off the $1.7 trillion private credit industry from financing such transactions, which carry some of the juiciest fees in the debt-underwriting business.

JPMorgan made the commitment through its leveraged-finance arm, not its private credit ...