Dive Brief:

• Dell needs more time to raise the initial $10 billion of a $45 billion plan to acquire data storage firm EMC, according to multiple reports.
• The initial money was supposed to have been raised by Feb. 10, but Dell has been given an additional five to 10 days.
• Tighter credit standards, slumping equity markets and even the Chinese New Year, which closed some Asian finance markets, have been cited as reasons for the delay.

Dive Insight:

This may turn out to be a bump in the acquisition, or it may be the start of something bigger. The complex, multi-tiered deal is built in part on Dell's ability to get $10 billion in loans and revolving credit very soon, and that attempt isn't going as well as initially anticipated. Then again, that development might not be surprising, given the current nervous state of financial markets overall.

Reuters reports that Dell has good credit ratings and cites an unnamed banker as saying the debt offer is "priced to sell." The company also needs to sell another loan package worth $8 billion and $25 billion in bonds for the deal, which will close in August if current plans stay on track.

Dell now has a few days to line up this part of the deal, and Reuters cites bankers as saying there probably are buyers out there willing to take on the debt. Still, this might be a harbinger of a larger, developing credit issue in the M&A world in upcoming weeks and months.