This case investigates the issues involved in a private equity (PE) firm’s decision to invest in the debt of a distressed leveraged buyout. The analysis has been purposefully simplified to involve only two classes of outstanding debt, senior debt and junior debt, so that students do not need to have detailed knowledge of the bankruptcy process to complete the analysis. The main analytical task requires students to compute the expected internal rate of return for two debt-investment strategies.
This case has been successfully taught in a second-year elective course covering entrepreneurial finance and PE, and in an undergraduate course on PE. The case is appropriate for use in classes on PE, debt restructuring, advanced corporate finance, or deal valuation.
