A private-equity return check
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The prompt
A European private-equity fund can buy a packaging maker for EUR 100 million, which is 10 times its EBITDA of EUR 10 million. It would pay with EUR 60 million of debt and EUR 40 million of the fund's own money (equity). The plan: grow EBITDA to EUR 14 million in five years, pay debt down to EUR 40 million, and sell at the same 10 times multiple. The fund targets about 20 percent a year. Does the plan meet it, and what should due diligence focus on?
Candidate-led: you choose what to calculate and where due diligence should look; the interviewer challenges your conclusions.
Practice with a partner
1. Send the interviewer link to a friend. They read the case aloud and hold the answers.
2. You open the candidate view: you see only the prompt, a timer and a notes box.
3. Speak the case out loud. Your partner shares data when you ask, then scores you with the rubric.
Interviewer view
For the person running the case
Candidate view
For the person answering the case
My notes on this case
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