Instead, a Blum Capital spokesman says the group will add more senior floating-rate debt to the financing package to reduce its interest costs. The move should also help to calm the fears of some analysts and debt-rating agencies worried that issuing low-rated junk securities would put more strain on the company's balance sheet.

LA-based CB Richard Ellis is the nation's largest commercial broker, with about 250 offices worldwide and roughly 10,000 employees. Monday, it formally announced that it had agreed to be purchased by Blum Capital for $16 a share in a deal worth about $750 million in cash and assumed debt.

When Blum Capital made its original $15.50-a-share offer last November, it said it planned to help finance the acquisition by raising $275 million in senior secured loans, $100 million through a revolving credit facility and up to $225 million in junk bonds.

Now, says Blum Capital spokesman Owen Blicksilver, the financing package will include $400 million in senior secured loans and $75 million in mezzanine debt, as well as the $100-million working capital loan. The sharp drop in interest rates since the buyout effort was launched made increasing the amount of lower-rate senior secured debt more feasible while eliminating the need for higher-rate junk bonds.

Shortly after Blum Capital announced its original plans to help finance the purchase with junk bonds last fall, credit-rating giant Standard & Poor's put CB Richard Ellis on its "CreditWatch" list with negative implications. S&P at the time cited factors that included "very high" debt levels and uncertainty over the takeover efforts.