Questions on a litigation finance case study

A London-based hedge fund is seeking to invest $100m into a litigation funding vehicle that has been newly
established by its current owners with a $20m common equity injection. The current owners have also taken
out a $10m, four year term loan with a well-known lender at LIBOR plus 3.5%, amortising quarterly on a
straight line basis, with interest also payable quarterly in cash.

Of the $100m capital injection, the hedge fund is seeking to invest $50m in the form of common equity and
$50m in the form of a debt instrument that will sit junior to the existing term loan. The proposed terms of the
debt instrument are as follows:
• Five year term, bullet repayment;
• Payment in kind interest cost of 8% (non-cash, rolled up);
• The capital is to be drawn by the vehicle as required for investment into new litigation cases; and
• A 2% commitment fee payable is on undrawn capital (non-cash, rolled up onto the principal balance)
You should assume that of the $130m day one capital, $120m is available for deployment into the financing
of new cases, with the remaining capital available to operating costs and interest payments on the term loan.
The current owner of the vehicle has a good track record and we can assume in relation to the case
performance:
• Average duration of 18 months;
• Average MOIC (multiple of invested capital) of 2.5x;
• Average case success rate of 80%; and
• The funder is able to deploy a maximum of $40m in the first year into new cases given its current
operating cost base (assume operating costs of $3m per annum in the first year), which it can scale
up by $10m per year thereafter (with a proportionate increase in the cost base to accommodate this).
Cash proceeds from case completions can be recycled into new case investments (subject to the limit above).
Task
• Build a quarterly model, with a ten year time horizon showing a high level income statement, balance
sheet and cash flow statement for the vehicle.
• Assume the vehicle accounts for its case investments at cost i.e. no fair value mark ups are applied
through the life of the case and income is only recognised on case completion.

So my questions are:
1) How do I know when to use the $50m Junior Financing - should the HF's equity be used to invest first and when thats run out only then does financing from the revovler kick in?
2) For the re-investment part of the question, I presume that is referring to FCF
3) The quarterly aspect of the model is confusing for the $50m Junior Financing - non-cash interest is charged at 8% per year and commitment fees on undrawn capital at 2%, so does this mean the addition to the debt balance in each quarter is equal to the annual change in the debt balance divided by 4, since the debt?

 

Fiddy_c, hey, look at the bright side, at least you didn't get a ton of monkey shit thrown at you...here is my best guess on threads that might be helpful:

More suggestions...

If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 
Most Helpful

Here is my take: 

1. Assuming they invest $50m of equity at closing, this will sit as cash on the balance sheet. You should draw on the revolver once cash levels reach a minimum level.

2. The cash proceeds should just flow through the cash flow statement onto the balance sheet. Cash is fungible. You should think about it in terms of the deployment restriction or availability of cash / capital not deploying specific dollars that are returned back into cases.

3. For private credit, PIK interest and fees will usually accrue monthly or quarterly (usually just stated as an annual rate). Because they asked you to build a quarterly model, I would just accrue it quarterly and you can footnote that you assumed it accrues/gets paid quarterly.

 

Aut temporibus est atque corrupti enim aut exercitationem. Expedita molestiae consequatur voluptatem id labore delectus.

Vero voluptatem tempora commodi officia dignissimos eaque dolor. Aut quidem quo ut omnis illo. Et et non repellat sit unde ea. Fugit animi hic debitis minus fuga. Facilis qui earum totam blanditiis.

Qui voluptatem atque aspernatur vero reiciendis dignissimos quia. Eligendi dolore asperiores at modi. Quo aliquam laborum corporis eaque cum non est enim. Dolorem id consectetur magnam magni. Rerum molestiae omnis magnam sunt. Nam recusandae repellat vel est nulla quia.

Aut occaecati tempore sit quidem. Nostrum earum error ea. Voluptatum et nihil rerum repudiandae hic placeat est temporibus.

Career Advancement Opportunities

December 2023 Investment Banking

  • Lincoln International 01 99.6%
  • Lazard Freres (++) 99.1%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.7%
  • William Blair 12 98.3%
  • Financial Technology Partners 02 97.9%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

December 2023 Investment Banking

  • William Blair 04 99.6%
  • Lincoln International 10 99.1%
  • Moelis & Company 25 98.7%
  • Stephens Inc 11 98.3%
  • Jefferies & Company 08 97.8%

Professional Growth Opportunities

December 2023 Investment Banking

  • Lincoln International 01 99.6%
  • Lazard Freres 17 99.1%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.7%
  • Financial Technology Partners 06 98.3%
  • UBS AG 16 97.8%

Total Avg Compensation

December 2023 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (6) $592
  • Vice President (34) $390
  • Associates (167) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (15) $187
  • 2nd Year Analyst (106) $168
  • Intern/Summer Associate (48) $167
  • 1st Year Analyst (322) $166
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (234) $95
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
pudding's picture
pudding
98.8
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”