JPMorgan Tests ‘Art of the Possible’ in Leveraged Buyouts (1)

When JPMorgan Chase & Co. took the lead last year in financing the $55 billion takeover of Electronic Arts Inc., a record-setting leveraged buyout, Wall Street saw it as a sign that a lucrative period of bankrolling super-sized private equity deals might come roaring back.

Five months on, the mood is less jubilant.

The planned acquisition of the video-game maker showed that big banks like JPMorgan could raise large sums of money to finance leveraged deals. But with financial markets rattled by a few high-profile corporate collapses and fears that artificial-intelligence will upend entire industries, bankers are now ...