Practical LBO Interview Questions for Finance

There’s no single way to explain how an LBO works, any real-life example that helps make the concept more intuitive is valid. One commonly used analogy is buying a house with a mortgage.

• The down payment is like the private equity firm’s equity investment.
• The mortgage represents the debt used to finance the rest of the purchase price.
• The monthly mortgage payments are like the interest and principal payments, which in an LBO are made using the target company’s cash flow.
• If the value of the house increases and part of the loan is paid off, the owner’s equity grows, just like in an LBO when debt is reduced and the company’s value increases.
• Eventually, the homeowner sells the house at a profit, just as an investor exits the company via sale or IPO to realize a return.

However, unlike a typical homeowner, a private equity (PE) firm doesn’t just wait for the asset to increase in value. It often makes operational improvements or strategic changes to boost the company’s performance, like renovating the house or renting out parts of it before selling.

In a leveraged buyout, an investor acquires a company using a mix of debt and equity. Most of the purchase price is financed with debt, which is added to the target company’s balance sheet after the deal closes. This results in major changes to both sides of the balance sheet:

Liabilities & Equity side:

• New debt is added.
• The old shareholders' equity is replaced by the investor’s equity contribution.

Assets side:

• Cash is reduced to reflect transaction-related outflows.
• Additional assets such as goodwill are created to account for the difference between the purchase price and the company’s book value.

In an LBO, the purchase price often exceeds the book value of the company’s net assets. This premium is recorded as goodwill or other intangibles.

• These are non-cash assets that act as a plug to balance the post-deal balance sheet.
• Goodwill reflects value beyond tangible assets, for example, brand strength, customer relationships, or expected synergies.
• Goodwill is not amortized, but must be tested for impairment. If the company underperforms, it may need to be written down, which lowers reported profits, even though no cash is spent in the process.

Working capital is defined as current assets minus current liabilities. In practical terms, it reflects how much cash is tied up in day-to-day operations, such as unpaid customer invoices (accounts receivable), unsold inventory, or bills that haven’t been paid yet (accounts payable).

Changes in working capital directly affect cash flow:

• An increase in receivables or inventory reduces available cash.
• An increase in payables improves cash flow, since the company delays payments.

In an LBO, most of the debt is used to finance the purchase of the target company. After the deal, the target itself is responsible for repaying that debt using its own cash flow.

That’s why working capital efficiency is so important: if too much cash is tied up in operations, less is available to pay down the debt. Better working capital management means more cash can go toward debt repayment, which reduces risk and increases the investor’s equity value over time.

Not necessarily. In practice, bankers often use simplified models, especially when time is limited. The focus is usually on the key drivers of investor returns – particularly the internal rate of return (IRR) on the equity investment.

For example, a full balance sheet is not always required. Instead, a leaner model typically includes:

• A simplified income statement – to estimate earnings and taxes
• A debt schedule – to track interest payments, principal repayments, and remaining debt
• A cash flow estimate – to see how much cash is available for debt service each year

You still need to make assumptions about the net change in working capital, as it directly affects free cash flow and the company’s ability to repay debt.

One key benefit of using debt in an LBO is the “tax shield.” Since interest expense is tax-deductible, the company pays less in taxes than it would without debt. This improves after-tax cash flow, which can then be used to repay debt and boost investor returns.

However, while the company saves money on taxes, it still has to pay interest on the debt. So, the total cash expenditure can still be higher than if no debt were used. That’s why the tax benefit helps, but doesn’t remove the cost or risk of using leverage.

In an LBO model, the investor’s return depends on a few key drivers. To improve the return, the investor might try to:

• Pay a lower purchase price
• Sell the company for a higher price or multiple
• Use more debt to reduce the equity investment
• Grow the business faster through organic growth or acquisitions
• Improve margins by cutting costs or increasing efficiency

Each of these changes increases the return on paper. But in practice, not all of them are easy to achieve.

In a leveraged buyout (LBO), investors aim to earn strong returns by improving the company and eventually selling it at a profit. One strategy to get part of their money back before the sale is called a dividend recapitalization (or dividend recap).

Here’s how it works:

• The company raises new debt.
• It uses the borrowed money to pay a special dividend to its owner – typically the private equity (PE) firm.
• This gives the PE firm an early cash return on its investment, without having to sell the company.

However, the company now has more debt, which increases financial risk. A dividend recap only makes sense if the company can continue making its debt payments comfortably.

Not all financial statements are impacted equally by a dividend recap. Here’s how each one is affected:

• The income statement does not change because dividends are not treated as operating expenses.
• On the balance sheet, debt increases because the company borrows new funds. Shareholders’ equity decreases because dividends are paid out of retained earnings, which lowers total equity.
• In the cash flow statement, the cash inflow from the new debt is offset by the cash outflow from the dividend payment. As a result, the net change in cash is zero.

In a leveraged buyout, the debt used to finance the deal is placed on the acquired company, which becomes responsible for repaying it. To reduce risk, lenders include covenants, which are rules the borrower must follow while the debt is in place.

These can be divided into two types:

• Maintenance covenants require the company to regularly meet certain financial thresholds, like keeping Debt/EBITDA below a set level. They’re common in traditional bank loans.
• Incurrence covenants restrict specific actions, such as taking on more debt or paying dividends, unless certain conditions are met. These are more common in high-yield debt with fewer ongoing tests.

An investor might prefer debt with incurrence covenants if they want more flexibility, for example to make acquisitions, expand the business, or avoid breaching strict financial ratios during unpredictable times.

Incurrence covenants are only tested when the company wants to take specific actions (like issuing more debt or paying dividends), making them less restrictive than maintenance covenants that apply at all times.

Even though this type of debt often comes with higher interest rates, it may still be attractive if the investor believes that flexibility is more important than lower costs.

Although technology is considered more volatile than other markets, there are mature, cash flow-stable companies in nearly every industry. Investors may also follow specific strategies that mitigate risk, such as:

• Industry consolidation: Buying several competitors in the same market and combining them to increase efficiency and gain market share.
• Turnarounds: Acquiring underperforming companies and making them function properly again.
• Divestitures: Buying a non-core business unit from a larger company and turning it into a stronger, standalone business.

So while the overall sector may seem risky, the specific deal can still be attractive if it fits one of these strategies and offers strong, stable cash flow.