Silver Lake Cements Power Broker Status With $55 Billion EA Deal

For years, record books for the biggest leveraged buyouts had the expected names at the top: industry pioneer KKR & Co., trillion-dollar behemoth Blackstone Inc.

Now Silver Lake Management holds the prize.

Leaning on its deep connections in tech and the Middle East, the firm is locking arms with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners to acquire Electronic Arts Inc. for $55 billion in what would be the largest leveraged buyout in history. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is in line to provide $20 billion of debt, itself a record for a commitment of its ...