Credit Woes Whack Tech M&A

SAN FRANCISCO -- The bloodletting in the credit markets may soon start to spill into the tech sector.

The widening credit crisis is exposing the vulnerability of tech companies that have borrowed avidly in recent years as hedge funds, pension funds and other large investors have loaded their portfolios with corporate debt, holding down interest rates.

The tighter link to the credit markets could choke the growth of tech companies that have made acquisitions a major plank of their expansion plans. In recent years, IT services firms as well as makers of software, semiconductors and telecom gear have used cash instead of stock to make acquisitions. ...