The lines between private and broadly syndicated loans are increasingly blurry these days, especially when it comes to larger deals that could conceivably go either way or even tap both markets at once.

In terms of its size and potential pricing, the $5bn-plus loan that Ares is leading for Dun & Bradstreet’s buyout by Clearlake Capital is symptomatic of this convergence. And according to summary of terms obtained by 9fin, the docs chart a kind of middle ground between the two.