The latest example came this week, when luxury clothing retailer Neiman Marcus opted to forego a sale to Canadian retailer Hudson’s Bay Company (TSX: HBC) after discussions reportedly broke down earlier this week, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The biggest impediment appears to be the Neiman Marcus’s massive debt load—it stands at $4.8 billion, per Reuters—that’s mounted since Ares Management and Canadian public pension fund CPPIB acquired it from TPG and Warburg Pincus in a 2013 deal worth $6 billion.