lbo case study interview

S T R E E T OF W A L L S

Paper lbo model example.

An illustrative example of a paper LBO is provided below in 5 simple steps. In a paper LBO exercise, you will be expected to complete the important components of a working LBO model with the use of paper and pencil and without the use of a computer.

Given LBO Parameters and Assumptions

• XYZ Private Equity Partners purchases ABC Target Company for 5.0x Forward 12 months (FTM) EBITDA at the end of Year 0.
• The debt-to-equity ratio for the LBO acquisition will be 60:40.
• Assume the weighted average interest rate on debt to be 10%.
• ABC expects to reach $100 million in sales revenue with an EBITDA margin of 40% in Year 1.
• Revenue is expected to increase by 10% year-over-year (y-o-y).
• EBITDA margins are expected to remain flat during the term of the investment.
• Capital expenditures are expected to equal 15% of sales each year.
• Operating working capital is expected to increase by $5 million each year.
• Depreciation is expected to equal $20 million each year.
• Assume a constant tax rate of 40%.
• XYZ exits the target investment after Year 5 at the same EBITDA multiple used at entry (5.0x FTM EBITDA).
• Assume all debt pay-down occurs at the moment of sale at the end of Year 5 (this eliminates the iterative/circular dependency between debt pay-down/cash balances and interest expense in a computer-based LBO model).

1. Calculate the purchase price of ABC.

Using a 5.0x entry multiple, calculate the price paid by multiplying by Year 1 EBITDA. $40 million in EBITDA (which represents a 40% EBITDA margin on $100 million in revenue) multiplied by 5. The purchase price is $200 million.

2. Calculate the debt and equity funding amounts used for the purchase price.

The given information assumes debt to equity ratio of 60:40 for the purchase price. Debt portion = 60% × $200 million, or $120 million. Equity portion = 40% × $200 million, or $80 million.

3. Build the Income Statement.

(Notice that, because the exit value at the end of Year 5 will be based on a forward EBITDA multiple, we must calculate six year’s worth of income statement, not 5. Also note that the numbers might not agree perfectly because of rounding. It is reasonable to round your intermediate calculations to the nearest integer in carrying over calculations to the next step.)

• Project revenue: Revenue is expected to grow 10% annually. $100 million Year 1 sales × (1 + 10% growth rate) = $110 million sales in Year 2. $110 million Year 2 sales × (1 + 10% growth rate) = $121 million sales in Year 3. $121 million Year 3 sales × (1 + 10% growth rate) = $133.1 million sales in Year 4. $133 million Year 4 sales × (1 + 10% growth rate) = $146.3 million sales in Year 5. $146 million Year 5 sales × (1 + 10% growth rate) = $160.6 million sales in Year 6.
• Use EBITDA margin to calculate EBITDA. $100 million Year 1 sales × 40% EBITDA margin = $40 million Year 1 EBITDA. $110 million Year 2 sales × 40% EBITDA margin = $44 million Year 2 EBITDA. $121 million Year 3 sales × 40% EBITDA margin = $48 million Year 3 EBITDA. $133 million Year 4 sales × 40% EBITDA margin = $53 million Year 4 EBITDA. $146 million Year 5 sales × 40% EBITDA margin = $59 million Year 5 EBITDA. $161 million Year 6 sales × 40% EBITDA margin = $64 million Year 6 EBITDA.
• Subtract Depreciation & Amortization (D&A) to get EBIT. $40 million Year 1 EBITDA – $20 million D&A = $20 million Year 1 EBIT. (etc. for Years 2-6)
• Calculate interest expense using the debt amount used for purchase multiplied by the interest rate to calculate the yearly interest expense line item. $120 million of debt × 10% interest rate = $12 million interest expense per year.
• Calculate Earnings Before Tax (EBT). $20 million Year 1 EBIT – $12 million int. exp. = $8 million Year 1 EBT. (etc. for Years 2-6)
• Subtract taxes using the tax rate to get to tax-effected EBT (a proxy for Net Income). $8 million Year 1 EBT × 40% tax rate = $3 million taxes, so $5 million Year 1 t/e EBT. $12 million Year 2 EBT × 40% tax rate = $5 million taxes, so $7 million Year 2 t/e EBT. $16 million Year 3 EBT × 40% tax rate = $6 million taxes, so $10 million Year 3 t/e EBT. $21 million Year 4 EBT × 40% tax rate = $8 million taxes, so $13 million Year 4 t/e EBT. $27 million Year 5 EBT × 40% tax rate = $11 million taxes, so $16 million Year 5 t/e EBT. $32 million Year 6 EBT × 40% tax rate = $13 million taxes, so $19 million Year 6 t/e EBT.

4. Calculate cumulative levered free cash flow (FCF).

• Start with EBT (Tax-effected) and then add back non-cash expenses (D&A). $5 million Year 1 tax-effected EBT + $20 million D&A.
• Subtract capital expenditures (Capex). (NOTE: We do not need Year 6 capital expenditures, or Free Cash Flow for that matter, because EBITDA does not incorporate capex and because only FCF in Years 1-5 can be used to pay down debt.) $100 million Year 1 sales × 15% capex/sales = $15 million Year 1 capital expenditures. $110 million Year 2 sales × 15% capex/sales = $17 million Year 2 capital expenditures. $121 million Year 3 sales × 15% capex/sales = $18 million Year 3 capital expenditures. $133 million Year 4 sales × 15% capex/sales = $20 million Year 4 capital expenditures. $146 million Year 5 sales × 15% capex/sales = $22 million Year 5 capital expenditures.
• Subtract the annual increase in operating working capital to get to Free Cash Flow (FCF). $5mm Y1 t/a EBT + $20mm D&A – $15mm Y1 capex – $5mm NWC = $5mm Year 1 FCF. $7mm Y1 t/a EBT + $20mm D&A – $17mm Y2 capex – $5mm NWC = $6mm Year 2 FCF. $10mm Y1 t/a EBT + $20mm D&A – $18mm Y3 capex – $5mm NWC = $7mm Year 3 FCF. $13mm Y1 t/a EBT + $20mm D&A – $20mm Y4 capex – $5mm NWC = $8mm Year 4 FCF. $16mm Y1 t/a EBT + $20mm D&A – $22mm Y5 capex – $5mm NWC = $9mm Year 5 FCF.
• Calculate Cumulative Free Cash Flow during the life of the LBO. Cumulative FCF until exit equals total debt pay-down, if it is assumed that 100% of FCF is used to pay down debt. (This is a standard assumption for a basic LBO model.) $5 mm Year 1 FCF + $5 mm Year 2 FCF + $7 mm Year 3 FCF + $8 mm Year 4 FCF + $9 mm Year 5 FCF = $34 mm Cumulative FCF.

5. Calculate Ending Purchase Price (Exit Value) and Returns

• Calculate Total Enterprise Value (TEV) at Exit. Take Forward EBITDA at exit (Year 6 EBITDA) along with a 5.0x exit multiple to calculate Exit TEV. $64 million Year 6 EBITDA × 5.0x multiple = $320 million Enterprise Value at Exit.
• Calculate Net Debt at Exit (also known as Ending Debt). Beginning Debt – Debt Pay-down = Ending Debt. $120 million in Beginning Debt – $34 million in Cumulative FCF = $86 million in Ending Debt.
• Calculate ending Equity Value (EV) by subtracting Ending Debt from Exit TEV. $320 Exit TEV – $86 million Ending Debt = $234 million Ending EV.
• Calculate the Multiple-of-Money (MoM) EV return (Ending EV ÷ Beginning EV). $234 million Ending EV ÷ $80 Beginning EV = 2.93x MoM.
• Estimate IRR based on the MoM multiple. The following table is useful for estimating IRR based upon 5-year MoM multiples: 2.0x MoM over 5 years ~15% IRR 2.5x MoM over 5 years ~20% IRR 3.0x MoM over 5 years ~25% IRR 3.7x MoM over 5 years ~30% IRR Therefore, we can assume that the implied IRR for the paper LBO case study is approximately 25%, or slightly below. (It is actually very close to 24%.)

The following is the full paper LBO case study exhibit, calculated using Excel rather than pen and paper. As a result, some of the numbers might be slightly different, as rounding has been eliminated:

Final Steps

Make sure to take your time and calculate every formula correctly since this is not a race, and any error that you make will flow through the model you’re building. If you catch a mistake part-way through, you will have to go back and correct it—sometimes causing you to have to recalculate nearly everything, and possibly leading to compounding mistakes on top of the original one.

In addition, the interviewer will ask you to walk through your thought process and calculations. Thus it is important to be able to build the proper paper LBO in simple, accurate steps, and make sure you can walk through the reasoning regarding the process and each calculation. This takes practice, so be sure to practice at least one more paper LBO before your next private equity interview.

Good luck on the case!

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• Simple LBO Model - Case Study and Tutorial (13:24)

Simple LBO Model – Case Study and Tutorial (13:24)

In this LBO Model tutorial, you’ll learn how to build a very simple LBO model “on paper” that you can use to answer quick questions in PE (and other) interviews.

• Tutorial Summary
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In this LBO Model tutorial, you’ll learn how to build a very simple LBO model “on paper” that you can use to answer quick questions in private equity (and other) interviews.

This matters because in many cases, they’ll ask you to calculate numbers such as IRR and multiple of invested capital very quickly and will not actually ask you to build a more complex model until later in the process.

Simple LBO Model Test Prompt

Click here to get the case study prompt , and here to get the Excel file .

You should always START this exercise by looking at the actual question or set of questions they are asking you:

“Calculate the purchase price required for ABC Capital to obtain a 3.0x multiple of invested capital (MOIC) if it plans to sell OpCo after five years at an EV / EBITDA multiple of 6.0x.”

So, they’re giving you the exit multiple and the return on investment that the PE firm is targeting, and you have to figure out the initial purchase price by “working backwards.”

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Here’s how we interpret each line in this case study and use it in the simple LBO model:

“OpCo currently has EBITDA of $250mm, and ABC believes that the new management team could keep EBITDA flat for the next 5 years.”

This tells you to make the initial EBITDA $250mm and keep it at that level for 5 years – skip Revenue, COGS , OpEx, and everything else because none of that matters if this is all they give you:

“ABC Capital has obtained debt financing of $750mm at 10% interest, and OpCo expects working capital to be a source of funds at $6mm per year.”

The initial debt balance is $750mm and there’s a 10% interest rate, so the interest expense will be $75mm per year in this simple LBO model.

In the “Cash Flow Statement Adjustments”, since Working Capital is a SOURCE of funds, the Change in Working Capital will add $6mm to cash flow each year:

“OpCo requires capital expenditures of $35mm per year, and it has a tax rate of 40%. Assume no transaction fees, zero minimum cash required, and that PP&E on the balance sheet remains constant for the next 5 years.”

Also in the CFS section, CapEx = $35mm per year, and Depreciation also equals $35mm per year since the PP&E balance does not change at all. So you can also fill in the Depreciation figure on the Income Statement.

No transaction fees and no minimum cash requirement simplify the purchase price and debt repayment – although we don’t even have debt repayment here.

“Assume that excess cash is NOT used to repay debt, and instead simply accumulates on the Balance Sheet.”

This makes the final numbers easier to calculate, since interest expense will never change and you can simply add up cash generated to get to the final cash number at the end:

Simple LBO Model Steps

1. Start with the Income Statement – EBITDA is $250mm per year.

Subtract Depreciation of $35mm per year, and interest of $75mm per year.

So EBIT = $140mm. Taxes = $140mm * 40%, so Net Income = $140mm – $56mm = $84mm.

2. On the simplified CFS, Net Income = $84mm, Depreciation = $35mm, Change in Working Capital = $6mm, CapEx = ($35mm), so Cash Generated per year = $90mm.

3. EBITDA Exit Multiple = 6.0x, and final year EBITDA = $250mm, so Exit EV = $1.5B.

Subtract the outstanding debt of $750mm and add the cash generated in this period of $450mm, so Equity Proceeds = $1.2B:

4. Targeted MOIC = 3.0x so the PE firm would have to invest $400mm in the beginning.

$400mm equity + $750mm debt = $1.150B, so the purchase multiple is $1,150 / $250 = 4.6x.

About Brian DeChesare

Brian DeChesare is the Founder of Mergers & Inquisitions and Breaking Into Wall Street . In his spare time, he enjoys lifting weights, running, traveling, obsessively watching TV shows, and defeating Sauron.

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The Private Equity Case Study: The Ultimate Guide

If you're new here, please click here to get my FREE 57-page investment banking recruiting guide - plus, get weekly updates so that you can break into investment banking . Thanks for visiting!

The private equity case study is an especially intimidating part of the private equity recruitment process .

You’ll get a “case study” in virtually any private equity interview process , whether you’re interviewing at the mega-funds (Blackstone, KKR, Apollo, etc.), middle-market funds , or smaller, startup funds.

The difference is that each one gives you a different type of case study, which means you need to prepare differently:

What Should You Expect in a Private Equity Case Study?

There are three different types of “case studies”:

• Type #1: A “ paper LBO ,” calculated with pen-and-paper or in your head, in which you build a simple leveraged buyout model and use round numbers to guesstimate the IRR.
• Type #2: A 1-3-hour timed LBO modeling test , either on-site or via Zoom and email. This is a pure speed test , so proficiency in the key Excel shortcuts and practice with many modeling tests are essential.
• Type #3: A “take-home” LBO model and presentation, in which you might have a few days up to a week to pick a company, research it, build a model, and make a recommendation for or against an acquisition of the company.

We will focus on the “take-home” private equity case study here because the other types already have their own articles/tutorials or will have them soon.

If you’re interviewing within the fast-paced, on-cycle recruiting process with large funds in the U.S. , you should expect timed LBO modeling tests (type #2).

If the firm interviews dozens of candidates in a single weekend, there’s no time to give everyone open-ended case studies and assess them.

You might also get time-pressured LBO modeling tests in early rounds in other financial centers, such as London .

The open-ended case studies – type #3 – are more common at smaller funds, in off-cycle recruiting, and outside the U.S.

Although you have more time to complete them, they’re significantly more difficult because they require critical thinking skills and outside research.

One common misconception is that you “need” to build a complex model for these case studies.

But that is not true at all because they’re judging you mostly on your investment thesis , your presentation, and your ability to answer questions afterward.

No one cares if your LBO model has 200 rows, 500 rows, or 5,000 rows – they care about how well you make the case for or against the company.

This open-ended private equity case study is often the final step between the interview and the job offer, so it is critically important.

The Private Equity Case Study, in Parts

This is another technical tutorial, so I’ve embedded the corresponding YouTube video below:

Table of Contents:

• 4:32: Part 1: Typical Case Study Prompt
• 6:07: Part 2: Suggested Time Split for a 1-Week Case Study
• 8:01: Part 3: Screening and Selecting a Company
• 14:16: Part 4: Gathering Data and Doing Industry Research
• 22:51: Part 5: Building a Simple But Effective Model
• 26:32: Part 6: Drafting an Investment Recommendation

Files & Resources:

• Case Study Prompt (PDF)
• Private Equity Case Study Slides (PDF)
• Cars.com – Highlighted 10-K (PDF)
• Cars.com – Investor Presentation (PDF)
• Cars.com – Excel Model (XL)
• Cars.com – Investment Recommendation Presentation (PDF)

We’re going to use Cars.com in this example, which is one of the many case studies in our Advanced Financial Modeling course:

Advanced Financial Modeling

Learn more complex "on the job" investment banking models and complete private equity, hedge fund, and credit case studies to win buy-side job offers.

The full course includes a detailed, step-by-step walkthrough rather than this summary, an additional advanced LBO model, and other complex case studies for investment banking, hedge funds, and credit.

Part 1: Typical Private Equity Case Study Prompt

In some cases, they’ll give you a company to analyze, but in others, you’ll have to screen for companies yourself and pick one.

It’s easier if they give you the company and the supporting documents like the Information Memorandum , but you’ll also have less time to complete the case study.

The prompt here is very open-ended: “We like these types of deals and companies, so pick one and present it to us.”

The instructions are helpful in one way: they tell us explicitly not to build a full 3-statement model and to focus on the market and strategy rather than an “extremely complex model.”

They also hint very strongly that the model must include sensitivities and/or scenarios:

Part 2: Suggested Time Split for a 1-Week Private Equity Case Study

You have 7 days to complete this case study, which may seem like a lot of time.

But the problem is that you probably don’t have 8-12 hours per day to work on this.

You’re likely working or studying full-time, which means you might have 2-3 hours per day at most.

So, I would suggest the following schedule:

• Day #1: Read the document, understand the PE firm’s strategy, and pick a company to analyze.
• Days #2 – 3: Gather data on the company’s industry, its financial statements, its revenue/expense drivers, etc.
• Days #4 – 6: Build a simple LBO model (<= 300 rows), ideally using an existing template to save time.
• Day #7: Outline and draft your presentation, let the numbers drive your decisions, and support them with the qualitative factors.

If the presentation is shorter (e.g., 5 slides rather than 15) or longer, you could tweak this schedule as needed.

But regardless of the presentation length, you should spend MORE time on the research, data gathering, and presentation than on the LBO model itself.

Part 3: Screening and Selecting a Company

The criteria are simple and straightforward here: “The firm aims to find undervalued companies with stagnant or declining core businesses that can be acquired at reasonable valuation multiples and then turn them around via restructuring, divestitures , and add-on acquisitions.”

The industry could be consumer, media/telecom, or software, with an ideal Purchase Enterprise Value of $500 million to $1 billion (sometimes up to $2 billion).

Reading between the lines, I would add a few criteria:

• Consistent FCF Generation and 10-20%+ FCF Yields: Strategies such as turnarounds and add-on acquisitions all require cash flow. If the company doesn’t generate much Free Cash Flow , it will have to issue Debt to fund these strategies, which is risky because it makes the deal very dependent on the exit multiple.
• Relatively Lower EBITDA Multiples: If the company has a “stagnant or declining” core business, you don’t want to pay 20x EBITDA for it. An ideal range might be 5-10x, but 10-15x could be OK if there are good growth opportunities. The IRR math also gets tougher at high EBITDA multiples because the maximum Debt in most deals is 5-6x.
• Clean Financial Statements and Enough Detail for Revenue and Expense Projections: You don’t want companies with 2-page-long Cash Flow Statements or Balance Sheets with 100 line items; you can’t spare the time required to simplify and consolidate these statements. And you need some detail on the revenue and expenses because forecasting revenue as a simple percentage Year-Over-Year (YoY) growth rate is a bad idea in this context.

We used this process to screen for companies here:

• Step 1: Do a high-level screen of companies in these 3 sectors based on industry, Equity Value or Enterprise Value, and geography.
• Step 2: Quickly review the list of ~200 companies to narrow the sector.
• Step 3: After picking a specific sector, narrow the choices to the top few companies and pick one of them.

In software , many of the companies traded at very high multiples (30x+ EBITDA), and others had negative EBITDA , so we dropped this sector.

In consumer/retail , the companies had more reasonable multiples (5-10x), but most also had low margins and weak FCF generation.

And in media/telecom , quite a few companies had lower multiples, but the FCF math was challenging because many companies had high CapEx requirements (at least on the telecom side).

We eliminated companies with very high multiples, negative EBITDA, and exorbitant CapEx, which left this set:

Within this set, we then eliminated companies with negative FCF, minimal information on revenue/expenses, somewhat-higher multiples, and those whose businesses were declining too much (e.g., 20-30% annual declines).

We settled on Cars.com because it had a 9.4x EBITDA multiple at the time of this screen, a declining business with modest projected growth, 25-30% margins, and reasonable FCF generation with FCF yields between 10% and 15%.

If you don’t have Capital IQ for this exercise, you’ll have to rely on FinViz and use P / E multiples as a proxy for EBITDA multiples.

You can click through to each company to view the P / FCF multiples, which you can flip around to get the FCF yields.

In this case, don’t even bother looking for revenue and expense information until you have your top 2-3 candidates.

Part 4: Gathering Data and Doing Industry Research

Once you have the company, you can spend the next few days skimming through its most recent annual report and investor presentation, focusing on its financial statements and revenue/expense drivers.

With Cars.com, it’s clear that the company’s “Dealer Customers” and Average Revenue per Dealer will be key drivers:

The company also has significant website traffic and earns advertising revenue from that, but it’s small next to the amount it earns from charging car dealers to use its services:

It’s clear from this quick review that we’ll need some outside research to estimate these drivers, as the company’s filings and investor presentation have little.

Fortunately, it’s easy to Google the number of new and used car dealers in the U.S. and estimate the market size and share like that:

The company’s market share has been declining , and we expect that trend to continue, but it’s not clear how rapid the decline will be.

Consumers are increasingly buying directly from other consumers, and dealers have less reason to use the company’s marketplace services than in past years.

We create an area for these key drivers, with scenarios for the most uncertain one:

You might be wondering why there’s no assumed uptick in market share since this is supposed to be a “turnaround” case study.

The short answer is that we think the company is unlikely to “turn around” its core business in this time frame, so it will have to move into new areas via bolt-on acquisitions .

For example, maybe it could acquire smaller firms that sell software and services to dealers, or it could acquire physical or online car dealerships directly.

Another option is to acquire companies that can better monetize Cars.com’s large and growing web traffic – such as companies that sell auto finance leads.

As part of this process, we also need to research smaller companies to acquire, but there isn’t much to say about this part.

It comes down to running searches on Capital IQ for smaller companies in related industries and entering keywords like “auto” in the business description field.

In terms of the other financial statement drivers , many expenses here are simple percentages of revenue, but we could also link them to the employee count.

We also link the website traffic to the sales & marketing spending to capture the spending required for growth in that area.

Finally, we need to input the financial statements for the company, which is not that hard since they’re already fairly clean:

It might be worth consolidating a few items here, but the Income Statement and partial Cash Flow Statement are mostly fine, which means the Excel versions are close to the ones in the annual report.

Part 5: Building a Simple But Effective Model

The case study instructions state that a full 3-statement model is not necessary – but even if they had not, such a model would rarely be worthwhile.

Remember that LBO models, just like DCF models , are based on cash flow and EBITDA multiples ; the full statements add almost nothing since you can track the Cash and Debt balances separately.

In terms of model complexity, a single-sheet LBO with 200-300 rows in Excel is fine for this exercise.

You’re not going to get “extra credit” for a super-complex LBO model that takes days to understand.

The key schedules here are:

• Transaction Assumptions – Including the purchase price, exit assumptions, scenarios, and tranches of debt. Skip the working capital adjustment unless they specifically ask for it. For more on these nuances, see our coverage of Enterprise Value vs. purchase price and cash-free debt-free deals .
• Sources & Uses – Short and simple but required to calculate the Investor Equity.
• Revenue, Expense, and Cash Flow Drivers – These don’t need to be super-complex; the goal is to go beyond projecting revenue as a simple percentage growth rate.
• Income Statement and Partial Cash Flow Statement – The goal is to calculate Free Cash Flow because that drives Debt repayment and Cash generation in an LBO.
• Add-On Acquisitions – These are part of the “turnaround strategy” in this deal, so they’re quite important.
• Debt Schedule – This one is quite simple here because the deal is not dependent on financial engineering.
• Returns Calculations – The IPO vs. M&A exit options add a bit of complexity.
• Sensitivity Tables – It’s difficult to draft the investment recommendation without these.

Skip anything that makes your life harder, such as circular references in Excel (to avoid these, use the beginning Cash and Debt balances to calculate interest).

We pay special attention to the add-on acquisitions here, with support for their revenue and EBITDA contributions:

The Debt Schedule features a Revolver, Term Loans, and Subordinated Notes:

The Returns Calculations are also simple; we do assume a bit of Multiple Expansion because of the company’s higher growth rate by the end:

Could we simplify this model even further?

I don’t think the M&A vs. IPO exit options mentioned above are necessary, and we could also drop the “Growth” vs. “Value” options for the add-on acquisitions:

Especially if we recommend against the deal, it’s not that important to analyze which type of add-on acquisition works best.

It would be more difficult to drop the scenarios and Excel sensitivity tables , but we could restructure them a bit and fold the scenario into a sensitivity table.

All investing is probabilistic, and there’s a huge range of potential outcomes – so it’s difficult to make a serious investment recommendation without examining several outcomes.

Even if we think this deal is spectacular, we must consider cases in which it goes poorly and how we might reduce those risks.

Part 6: Drafting an Investment Recommendation

For a 15-slide recommendation, I would recommend this structure:

• Slides 1 – 2: Recommendation for or against the deal, your criteria, and why you selected this company.
• Slides 3 – 7: Qualitative factors that support or refute the deal (market, competition, growth opportunities, etc.). You can also explain your proposed turnaround strategy, such as the add-on acquisitions, here.
• Slides 8 – 13: The numbers, including a summary of the LBO model, multiples vs. comps (not a detailed valuation), etc. Focus on the assumptions and the output from the sensitivity tables.
• Slide 14: Risk factors for a positive recommendation, and the counter-factual (“what would change your mind?”) for a negative one. You can also explain the potential impact of each risk on the returns and how you could mitigate these risks.
• Slide 15: Restate your conclusions from Slide 1 and present your best arguments here. You could also change the slide formatting or visuals to make it seem new.

“OK,” you say, “but how do you actually make an investment decision?”

The easiest method is to set criteria for the IRR or multiple of invested capital in each case and say, “Yes” if the deal achieves those numbers and “No” if it does not.

For example, maybe the targets are a 30% IRR in the Upside case, a 20% IRR in the Base case, and a 1.0x multiple in the Downside case (i.e., avoid losing money).

We do achieve those numbers in this deal, but the decision could go either way because the deal is highly dependent on the add-on acquisitions.

Without these acquisitions, the deal does not work; the IRR falls by 10%+ across all the scenarios and turns negative in the Downside case.

We need at least 5 good acquisition candidates matching very specific financial profiles ($100 million Purchase Enterprise Value and a 15x EBITDA purchase multiple with 10% revenue growth or 5x EBITDA with 3% growth).

The presentation includes some examples of potential matches:

While these examples are better than nothing, the case is not that strong because:

• Most of these companies are too big or too small to fit into the strategy proposed here of ~$100 million in annual acquisitions.
• The acquisition strategy is unclear ; acquiring and integrating dealerships (even online ones) would be very, very different from acquiring software/data/media companies.
• And since the auto software market is very niche, there’s probably not a long list of potential acquisition candidates beyond the few we found.

We end up saying, “Yes” in this recommendation, but you could easily reach the opposite conclusion because you believe the supporting data is weak.

In short: For a 1-week open-ended case study, this approach is fine, but this specific deal would probably not stand up to a more detailed on-the-job analysis.

The Private Equity Case Study: Final Thoughts

Similar to time-pressured LBO modeling tests, you can get better at the open-ended private equity case study by “putting in the reps.”

But each rep is more time-consuming, and if you have a demanding full-time job, it may be unrealistic to complete multiple practice case studies before the real thing.

Also, even with significant practice, you can’t necessarily reduce the time required to research an industry and specific companies within it.

So, it’s best to pick companies and industries you already know and have several Excel and PowerPoint templates ready to go.

If you’re targeting smaller funds that use off-cycle recruiting, the first part should be easy because you should be applying to funds that match your industry/deal/client background.

And if not, you can always make a lateral move to a bulge bracket bank and interview at the larger funds if you prefer the private equity case study in “speed test” form.

If you liked this article, you might be interested in:

• The Growth Equity Case Study: Real-Life Example and Tutorial
• The Full Guide to Healthcare Private Equity, from Careers to Contradictions
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Full Case Study: LBO

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All of our case studies are based on the REAL exercises conducted during the recruiting process.

Our case studies are as close as it gets to the real thing..

The first thing we do when we develop a case study is to thoughtfully consider the different aspects of the original real case study. What was the company? What information was provided to the candidate? What questions did the interviewers ask during the debrief? What did the candidates struggle with? We then create mock practice case studies, tailored specifically to that firm. As a result, our cases are as close as it gets to the real thing and an excellent way for you to practice.

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Due to our industry experience, we’re intimately familiar with the logical reasoning and investment analysis thought process that the top buyside investment firms are looking for in case studies. Our coaching team has helped clients succeed at top private equity firms and hedge funds. Most recently, we’ve helped clients get offers from Apollo, Blackstone and KKR. We apply this expertise when crafting the case studies.

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PE Case Study - LBO with CIM

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Hey guys, I looked for a clear answer to the following case study in the old discussions, but I couldn't find any: what's the best way to approach a LBO exercise with a full (50+ pages) CIM and no assumptions given in terms of sources (including type and cost of debt ) and entry/exit multiples? The task is simply to get to an IRR and discuss the returns in a short investement memo.

Thank you!!

I dont understand the question. Read the CIM and come up with operating assumptions. Use basic transaction assumptions and make an LBO .

I'm sure the firm gave you instructions...

What do you mean by "basic transaction assumptions"? If you have no idea about the sector (i.e. you don't know at which ev / ebitda company are trading), what are your entry and exit multiples going to be? What about cost and maturity of debt? Just putting a random 5 years bank debt at 7%? Thank you!!

Do a quick comps to find out current trading multiples and assume entry equals exit (unless you can very reasonably argue otherwise). Similarly you could also look at debt / ebitda ratios of public peers and (depending on the size of the target) discount that to account for risks associated with smaller firms. Although I'm not entirely sure you should be fine staying away from mezz and using a senior A (yearly 5 year amortization) and senior B (bullet in year 6) at 4%-5%.

The main issue is that you aren't given any comps set and you haven't got any internet connection (i.e. you have ONLY the CIM), hence there are no benchmarks or peers. And I don't think that the fact that they specify they want a LBO for valuation purposes will change anything as you would need exit and entry as well as debt assumptions. Am I missing anything? Thanks!

In that case I would argue that they are trying to test your reasoning. Try to get a grasp of multiples of major industries and what drives valuation in those industries, then apply that to the CIM you are presented with. As far as debt is concerned, try to think like a bank; a company that has a clean balance sheet or a company that has successfully grown and consistently paid down debt over the years is more likely to be able to attract higher multiples (north of 3x ebitda) than a company with a relatively unproven business model in a highly complex industry. Hope this makes sense, just my two cents!

ctrlaltelite: In that case I would argue that they are trying to test your reasoning. Try to get a grasp of multiples of major industries and what drives valuation in those industries, then apply that to the CIM you are presented with.

I tend to agree, if you come out with like 5x Rev you should provide a reasonable explanation for that, but without data and little/no knowledge of industry/sub-sector (or even more if you don't have info about it - though not the case) if you say 1x or 1.5x or 2x Rev that is clearly not the point of the whole valuation. The reason why they ask you to model an LBO is to test your reasoning as well as your modeling skills. At the end of the day, if you build a working, effective lbo model and it turns out the proper multiple is 5x Rev for whatever reason, it's a matter of a second to change it.

I definitely agree that without a valid reason you have to use the same multiple both entering and exiting.

As for the debt - the point is to check if you have any rough ideas about how the banking world works - in this case, you can't end up with a D/E of 5 or 10 as banks will not lend that much to a firm. You can use some kind of metric to determine how much (e.g. D/E or multiple of EBITDA , they are both a starting point... Remember: valuation is both a science and an art, so there's not 100% right response).

PE Case Study - Model & Presentation with CIM ( Originally Posted: 04/02/2018 )

I have an upcoming case study round where I will be given a CIM to build a model and prepare a few slides that I will have to present incl. Q&A. This will be my first full case study, so my question is how do you approach this most efficiently? I will have 2-3 hours for the whole exercise. How would you divide up the time and what are the most important areas to cover in the slide deck? I would have thought to include 1 page exec summary upfront, 1 slide about the market developments, 1 page business overview incl. historic performance, 1 page forecasts of key financials / business plan, 1 page transactions overview / assumptions + IRR sensitivities, 1 page potential risks / further ares for DD.

Does this sound reasonable for the time / is there anything major missing that you would include?

In terms of the operating assumptions for the model - is this usually just replicating the business plan assumptions from the CIM and making necessary downwards / upwards assumptions based on the industry outlook? Also, how often is it required to build a full three statement model? I would assume time is pretty limited and the full 3 statements might be a bit too much?

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If we're lucky, the following pros may have something to say: EuroGorilla bule Radu-Georgescu

I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.

Think your intuition is right - I wouldn't build in a balance sheet just do I/S, working capital and debt schedule . And DO NOT worry about formatting, just make sure the valuation you arrive at makes sense and focus all additional time on the qualitative part

30mn reading + business understanding (what is the USP, product etc) 1h preparing commercial slides 1h LBO (i guess it depends on the background whether you need 1h for your LBO /commercial work) 30mn check + formating (primarily slides)

from experience, focus on 3-4 key value creation/DD items with a more detailed answer; in the end: it doesnt matter whether you got an IRR of 14% or 22% , more importantly you need to demonstrate critical thinking, business acumen as people want to see whether you can have a smart discussion over the company

All great comments so far. 

Personally, I think it's a tough one. I did this SaaS LBO case study, a full 3-statement with LBO features --- multiple debt tranches, cash sweep , rollover equity, option pool, dividend recap, etc. --- and with the b/s balanced and all formulas correct, somehow I ended up with a 9x MOIC over a 5-year horizon. It's obviously too high for pretty much any company, but it'd be really helpful if I have some SaaS specific knowledge (I don't have that much) to know if that number is not THAT weird.

The hypothetical Co. is a SaaS company who just started to generate revenue in transaction close year.

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Private Equity Case Study: Example, Prompts, & Presentation

Private equity case studies are an important part of the private equity recruiting process because they allow firms to evaluate a candidate’s analytical, investing, and presentation abilities. 

In this article, we’ll look at the various types of private equity case studies and offer advice on how to prepare for them. 

This guide will help you ace your next private equity case study, whether you’re a seasoned analyst or new to the field.

Types Of Private Equity Case Studies

Case studies are very common in private equity interviews, and they are a key part of the overall recruiting process.

While you’re extremely likely to encounter a case study of some kind during your recruiting process, there is considerable variety in the types of case studies you might face.

Below I cover the major types:

Take-home assignment

In-person lbo modeling assignment.

For this case study, you’ll get some company information (e.g. a 10-K or a CIM) and be asked to assess whether or not you’re likely to invest. 

Generally, you’ll get between 2-7 days to prepare a full presentation or investment memo with your recommendations that you’ll present to the interviewer.  To support your investment recommendation, you’ll be expected to complete a full LBO model .  The prompt may give certain details or assumptions to include in the model.

This type of test is most common during “off-cycle” hiring throughout the year, since firms have more time to allow you to complete the assignment. 

This is pretty similar to the take-home assignment. You’re given company materials, will build a financial model, and decide whether you would invest. 

The difference here is the time you’re given to complete the case. You’ll generally get between two to three hours, and you’ll typically complete the case study in the firm’s office, though some firms are becoming newly open to completing the assignment remotely. 

In this case, you’ll typically only complete an LBO model. There is usually no presentation or investment memo. Rather, you’ll do the model and then have a short discussion afterward. 

This is a shorter, more condensed version of an LBO model. You can complete a paper LBO with a piece of paper and a pen. Alternatively, you may be asked to discuss it verbally with the interviewer. 

Rather than using an Excel spreadsheet, you use an actual sheet of paper to show your calculations. You don’t go into all the detail but focus on the essence of the model instead. 

In this article, we’ll be focusing on the first two types of case studies because they are the most widely used. But if you’re interested, here is a deep dive on Paper LBOs . 

Private Equity Case Study Prompt

Regardless of the type of case study you’re asked to do, the prompt from the interviewer will ultimately ask you to answer: “would you invest in this company?”

To answer this question you’ll need to take on the provided materials about the company and complete a leveraged buyout model to determine whether there is a high enough return. Generally, this is 20% or higher. 

Usually, prompts also provide you with certain assumptions that you can use to build your LBO model. For example:

• Pro forma capital structure
• Financial assumptions
• Acquisition and exit multiples

Some private equity firms provide you with the Excel template needed for an LBO model, while others prefer you to make one from scratch. So be ready to do that. 

Private Equity Case Study Presentation

As you’ve seen above, if you get a take-home assignment as a case study, there’s a good chance you’re going to have to present your investment memo in the interview. 

There will usually be one or two people from the firm present for your presentation. 

Each PE firm has a different interview process, some may expect you to present first and then ask questions, or the other way around. Either way, be prepared for questions. The questions are where you can stand out!

While private equity recruitment is there to assess your skills, it’s not all about your findings or what your model says. The interviewers are also looking at your communication skills and whether you have strong attention to detail. 

Remember, in the private equity interview process, no detail is too small. So, the more you provide, the better. 

How To Do A Private Equity Case Study

Let’s look at the step-by-step process of completing a case study for the private equity recruitment process:

• Step 1: Read and digest the material you’ve been given. Read through the materials extensively and get an understanding of the company. 
• Step 2: Build a basic LBO model. I recommend using the ASBICIR method (Assumptions, Sources & Uses, Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, Interest Expense, and Returns). You can follow these steps to build any model. 
• Step 3: Build advanced LBO model features, if the prompts call for it, you can jump to any advanced features. Of course, you want to get through the entire model, but your number 1 priority is to finish the core financial model. If you’re running out of time, I would skip or reduce time on advanced features.
• Step 4: Take a step back and form your “investment view”. I would try to answer these questions:
• What assumptions need to be present for this to be a good deal?
• Under what circumstances would you do the deal? 
• What is the biggest risk in the deal? (e.g. valuation, growth, and margins). 
• What is the biggest driver of returns in the deal? (e.g. valuation, growth, and debt paydown).

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How To Succeed In A Private Equity Case Study

Here are a few of my tips for getting through the private equity fund case study successfully. 

Get the basics down first

It’s very easy to want to jump into the more complex things first. If you go in and they start asking you to complete complex LBO modeling features like PIK preferred equity, getting to that might be on the top of your list. 

But I recommend taking a step back and starting with the fundamentals. Get that out the way before moving on to the complicated stuff. 

The fundamentals ground you, getting you through the things you know you can do easily. It also gives you time to really think about those complex ideas. 

Show nuanced investment judgment; don’t be too black-and-white

When giving your investment recommendation for a private equity fund you shouldn’t be giving a simple yes or no. 

It’s boring and gives you no space to elaborate. Instead, go in with what price would make you interested in investing and why. Don’t be shy to dig in here. 

Know where there is a value-creation opportunity in the deal, and mention the key assumptions you need to believe to create that value.

Additionally, if you are recommending that the investment move forward then bring up things you would want to know before closing a deal. You can highlight the key risks of the investment, or key things you’d want to ask management if you could meet with them. 

At the end of the day, financial modeling is a commodity skill.  Every investor can do it.  What will really set you apart is how you think about the deals, and the nuance you bring to analyzing them. 

You win by talking about the model

Along those lines, you don’t win by building the best model. Modeling is just a check-the-box thing in the interview process to show you can do it. The interviewers need to know you can do the basics with no glaring errors. 

What matters is showing that you can discuss the investment intelligently. It’s about bringing a sensible recommendation to the table with the information to back it up. 

How Do I Prepare For A Private Equity Case Study?

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to preparing for a private equity case study. Everyone is different. 

However, the best thing you can do is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and more PRACTICE!

I know of a recent client that successfully obtained an offer from multiple mega funds . She practiced until she was able to build 10 LBO models from scratch without any errors or help … yes, that’s 10 models! 

Now, whether it takes 5 or 20 practice case studies doesn’t matter. The whole point is to get to a stage where you feel confident enough to do an LBO model quickly while under pressure. 

There is no way around the pressure in a private equity interview. The heat will be on. So, you need to prepare yourself for that. You need to feel confident in yourself and your capabilities. 

You’d be surprised how pressure can leave you stumped for an answer to a question that you definitely know.

It’s also a good idea to think about the types of questions the private equity interviewer might ask you about your investment proposal. Prepare your answers as far as possible. It’s important that you stick to your guns too when the situation calls for it, because interviewers may push back on your answers to see how you react.. 

You need to have your answer to “would you invest in this company?” ready, and also how you got to that answer (and what new information might change your mind).   

Another thing that gets a lot of people is limited time.  If you’re running out of time, double down on the fundamentals or the core part of the model.  Make sure you nail those.  Also, you can make “reasonable” assumptions if there’s information you wish you had, but don’t have access to. Just make sure to flag it to your interviewer 

How important is modeling in a private equity case study? 

Modeling is part and parcel of private equity case studies. Your basics need to be correct and there should be no obvious mistakes. That’s why practicing is so important. You want to focus on the presentation, but your calculations need to be correct first. They do, after all, make up your final decision. 

How can I stand out from other candidates? 

Knowing your stuff covers the basics. To stand out, you need to be an expert in showing how you came to a decision, a stickler for details, and inquisitive. Anyone can do the calculations with practice, but someone who thinks clearly and brings nuance to their discussion of the investment will thrive in interviews. 

Private equity case studies are a difficult but necessary part of the private equity recruiting process . Candidates can demonstrate their analytical abilities and impress potential employers by understanding the various types of case studies and how to approach them. 

Success in private equity case studies necessitates both technical and soft skills, from analyzing financial statements to discussing the investment case with your interviewer. 

Anyone can ace their next private equity case study and land their dream job in the private equity industry with the right preparation and mindset. If you’re looking to learn more about private equity, you can read my recommended Private Equity Books.

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