"Project Swift" sounds like the name of a military invasion or an Olympic marathoner's training plan. But it is actually the code name for a corporate buyout, inspired by a private equity associate's fondness for singer Taylor Swift.

Labels like Project Token, the name Apollo Global Management used to mask its purchase of children's restaurant favourite Chuck E. Cheese, or Project Fusion, the code for Kinder Morgan's consolidation of its oil and gas holdings into a single company, are designed to keep reporters, traders and even rival companies from sniffing out deal news before formal announcements are made.