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Leverage Buyouts

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Lindsey Bembry
Leveraged Buyouts

A leveraged buyout, LBO, is an acquisition of a company or a portion of a company with a considerable portion of loaned funds. The assets of the target company are used as collateral. Each leveraged buyout is unique in that companies have their own capital structure. The one characteristic that is common within each LBO is the use of financial leverage to complete the purchase of the target company. In order for a LBO to take place, an investor, private equity firms or financial sponsor is needed. In a typical LBO, the firm obtaining the company will finance the purchase with a mixture of debt and equity. A segment of the debt in a LBO is protected by the assets of the target company. New cash flows from the bought out business are then used to pay the debt from the buyout. Leveraged buyouts happen to companies of all sizes and in all different types of industries. However, some elements from possible target firms include; small debt loads, history of positive cash flows, a significant amount of tangible assets, the possibility of new management making improvements, and for valuation/stock price to be minimal. Debt financing is borrowing money from a source with the intent to pay back the principal plus an agreed upon interest. An advantage of debt financing is those who use it can maintain ownership. Corporate balance sheets typically use principal and interest payments as a business expense which can be deducted from income taxes. Often times, companies can use smaller interest rates on loans. Although the history of the first leveraged buyout is unclear, economists and historians believed that the first leveraged buyout occurred after World War II. After the Great Depression, corporate leaders assumed best to keep corporate debt low. Consequently, for the next few decades very few American companies

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