LBO case study - back to basics!

Hey guys, really silly question but need your help.

I am about to do an LBO case study next week, and even though it's not my first one - I think I still don't know how to get to the price. Do you typically leave the entry price blank and model the whole thing out based on say 25% IRR and then use goal seek to get the entry price? Cause the way I was doing it my whole life was to put some approximate dummy for entry price and then manipulate it until the IRR gets to where I need it to be.

Is the goal seek (setting IRR to 25% and having entry multiple as a variable) the way to do it? Sensitivity tables do the same trick as long as you have some idea in what zipcode the price should land.

In other words - how do you actually derive the price in an LBO?

Again - really sorry for the dumb question, but appreciate some help!

8 Comments
 

Keep it dynamic. Yes, you need to have debt assumptions but they can be LTV/LTC percentages, and fees as basis points, etc. etc. Should not just be a fixed debt amount, if you don't start out with a PP assumption. 

 

There are two main ways to frame it up in my mind:

1. Here are the assumptions made / provided (debt, income statement projections, etc.), and here is what the IRR/MOIC is. Good deal or bad deal, and why?

2. Here are the assumptions you need to believe in order to do the deal (sales grow at x% CAGR, EBITDA margins at y%, buy the company for 8x multiple, etc.) 

 

I think you have the right idea in mind. You should be making debt assumptions based off what is reasonable- what do you typically see in market for senior vs subordinate and look at certain metrics like fixed coverage ratio…for final price, I think you have the right idea. You’re setting the price to get to your target IRR (which could be 20%, 25%, etc.)…obviously, how sensible a price you’re setting depends on your other assumptions.

 

I’m very new and have an LBO modeling test this week for a generalist fund. What would be a good ballpark of assumptions for debt v. Equity breakdown within purchase price?

 

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