◆ Full Builds · drill · Financial Modeling Keyboard Mastery track
Build the paper LBO
two roads to the same IRR — compound the MOIC, or lay the equity out as flows and read them; if they disagree, the model is lying somewhere upstream.
The partner wants the paper LBO in front of Monday's screening committee, on one page. LTM and exit EBITDA are already fed in from the operating model and the swept net debt at exit from the debt schedule; every assumption you can change is in blue. Size the deal at close — enterprise value, the debt the leverage driver supports, and the sponsor cheque that balances the funding (the plug: whatever is left once the debt is in) — then mark the same page at exit and read the return. Deductions carry their sign, and there are no interim distributions: the equity goes out once and comes back once.
The shortcuts in this drill
Alt walks: tap Alt, release, then the letters in sequence — each key steps one ribbon menu. On a Mac, tap ⌥ and use the same letters (KeyTips, Excel 2024+).
Shift+→⇧→ on macExtend selection one cell
Nudge a selection one cell at a time when the block you need doesn’t end at a data edge.
Ctrl+B⌘B on macBold
Bold marks structure: titles, total rows, anything the reviewer’s eye should land on first.
Alt h b p⌥ h b p on macTop border
Top border above a total row — the accounting ruling that says “this line sums the ones above.”
functions you'll type: SUM() · IRR()
The optimal line
the par-setting sequence, straight through:
build C8 → =C5*C6, then D8 the same · C10 → =-C5*C7 · C11 and D11 → =SUM(C8:C10) · ctrl+b + alt h b p on the equity line ·C15 → =D11/C11 · C16 → =C15^(1/C14)-1 · C19 → =-C11 · H19 → =D11 · C20 → =IRR(C19:H19) · ctrl+s
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