The problem
The fund says it turned two-times money into three. Skill? Or just leverage and a rising market? Until you build the returns bridge, you genuinely can’t tell — and neither can they.
Private equity runs on a handful of models done ruthlessly well: how much debt the company can actually carry, what the value-creation plan really delivers, where the returns come from, and whether an exit buyer will pay the multiple your whole case assumes. Get the leverage wrong and covenants bite in year two; get the exit multiple wrong and the entire thesis was fiction.
The memo that survives investment committee isn’t the one with the boldest story. It’s the one where every number has been built, stressed and defended.
What this book gives you
How to Master Private Equity & LBO Frameworks gives you the 23 models a sponsor actually uses — entry to exit — each a full chapter with the live model behind it.
- Sources & Uses
- The Debt Schedule
- The Returns Bridge
- Debt Capacity
- Exit Multiple Analysis
- The Value Creation Plan
- Multiple Arbitrage
- The J-Curve
… 23 in all, from the buyout to fund-level returns.
See it move
Build the LBO and read the returns bridge: it splits your gain into debt paydown, EBITDA growth and multiple expansion. Hold the exit multiple flat instead of assuming it rises, and watch a 3x case collapse toward 1.8x — the single assumption that flatters more buyout models than any other. Change it and the truth appears.
Buying more than one category? All 25 books and every one of the 467 models are £29.99 in the Business Framework Omnibus — less than the price of a third book. Prefer to try first? The free Framework Starter Pack gives you five complete chapters and their live Excel models.
23 frameworks. One category. The complete learning path. Every model in Private Equity and LBO Frameworks — explained, applied, and ready to use.
How to Master Private Equity and LBO Frameworks walks you through the complete arc: 23 models, in the order you'd actually learn them, each with a full practitioner chapter and a live Excel companion.
- 23 models across Private Equity and LBO Frameworks, the complete learning path
- Full practitioner chapters plus a live Excel companion for every model
- Written from 30+ years in investment banking, M&A and private equity