Paper LBO Examples: 2026 Worked Walk-Throughs for IB and PE Interviews

Paper LBO Examples: Worked Walk-Throughs for IB and PE Interviews If you are prepping for a private equity (PE) or investment banking (IB) interview in 2026, you need paper lbo examples you can replicate from memory in under 10 minutes with nothing but a single sheet of paper and a pen. This guide gives you […]
Deferred Sales Trust: 2026 DST Guide as Alternative to Installment Sale

Deferred Sales Trust IRS Guide: How a DST Defers Capital Gains Tax on Business Sales A deferred sales trust IRS strategy lets a business owner sell a company, real estate asset, or other appreciated property to an irrevocable third-party trust, take back an installment note, and spread the capital gains tax across the note term […]
Mid-Year Convention: 2026 DCF Mid-Year Discounting Guide With Excel Formula

Mid-Year Convention: How to Discount Cash Flows With Mid-Year Adjustment The mid year convention is a discounting assumption used in a discounted cash flow (DCF) model that treats projected free cash flows as if they arrive in the middle of each forecast year rather than at the very end. Instead of discounting Year 1 cash […]
LBO Modeling: 2026 Step-by-Step Build Guide for Investment Banking Analysts

LBO Modeling: The 7-Step Build Guide for Investment Banking Analysts LBO modeling is the process of building an Excel model that simulates a leveraged buyout: you forecast the target company’s operating cash flow, layer in a sponsor’s capital structure of equity plus senior, second-lien, and mezzanine debt, run the debt schedule until exit, and back […]
Public Comps: 2026 Trading Comparables Methodology for M&A Bankers

Public Comps: How to Build a Public Company Trading Comps Set Public comps, short for public company comparable trading multiples, is the valuation method that benchmarks a target business against publicly traded peers using market-derived multiples such as EV/Revenue, EV/EBITDA, EV/EBIT, and P/E. It is the first valuation any sell-side analyst pulls up when a […]
Stock Purchase Agreement Template: 2026 Free SPA Template With Key Clauses

Stock Purchase Agreement Template: Free SPA Template With Key Clauses A stock purchase agreement template is the reusable starting document buyers and sellers use to transfer ownership of a corporation by selling its issued and outstanding equity rather than its assets. The buyer steps into the seller’s shoes and takes the company with everything in […]
Share Purchase Agreement: 2026 SPA Structure, Key Clauses, and Negotiation

Share Purchase Agreement: How SPAs Get Structured, Negotiated, and Signed A share purchase agreement is the master contract that transfers legal ownership of a company by selling its issued share capital, rather than its individual assets. Under English law and most common-law jurisdictions modelled on it (Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Ireland, the BVI, the Cayman […]
Installment Sales in Real Estate: 2026 Section 453 Mechanics for Property Sellers

Installment Sales in Real Estate: 2026 Section 453 Mechanics for Property Sellers Installment Sales Real Estate in 2026 depends on scale, sector, and recurring revenue percentage. Named PE-backed and strategic acquirers pursue this vertical actively, and multiples clear meaningful ranges depending on platform readiness and market cycle timing. This page covers the operational specifics that […]
LBO Model Template: 2026 Free LBO Excel Template With Step-by-Step Build

LBO Model Template: Free Excel LBO Template With Build Guide An lbo model template is the prebuilt Excel file private equity associates and investment banking analysts use to test whether a target company can carry a specific debt load, hit a sponsor’s return hurdle (typically 20-25% IRR over a 5-year hold), and survive a base […]