MSD Capital, Michael Dell's family office, committed about $2.8 billion in cash to get the EMC merger done. Silver Lake and its limited partners also doubled down, and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek was brought in to provide additional cash. Again, Dell's ambitions were helped by loose debt markets: Nearly $50 billion in debt was raised to pay for EMC. VMware's 18% stub was kept publicly traded. Dell also listed a tracking stock to EMC holders that was supposed to mirror VMware's worth and bridge its eye-watering $67 billion purchase price. If the financial gymnastics are complex, Dell and Silver Lake's announcement this morning proves the worthiness of the endeavor. ( source )