That's the whole point of the transaction, a private equity firm buys a debt free cash cow, then they put a bunch of debt on their balance sheet and use the money for another 'adventure/investment'. It's done all the time at all different transaction amounts.

BTW: Don't get the impression that I like it or anything! I hate gov. BS as much as the next person but I wish they would pass some kind of law or something to limit the amount of debt they can load on a company when they pull this, like maybe 20% or some percent so they can't put a level of debt on a company that just kills it.