Sallie Mae buyers say open to revising $25 billion deal

The consortium that agreed to buy student lender Sallie Mae for $25 billion said on Wednesday that as of today conditions for the closing of the deal would not be met.

In a statement, the consortium said: We have told representatives of the Sallie Mae board that we are open to discussing a revision of the transaction that reflects this new environment.

A consortium of Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and private equity firms J.C. Flowers & Co and Friedman, Fleischer & Lowe agreed to pay $60 a share for Sallie Mae in April.

But since then, legislation cutting subsidies to student lenders and a serious credit squeeze have jeopardized the deal.