Demo case file · Technical
Mid-market private equity firm
Private Equity Associate
This is a demo case file: a realistic example written from commonly known interview formats, not a real candidate's interview experience.
Questions asked
- Paper LBO: a company with $100M EBITDA is bought at 10x, funded 60% with debt at 8% interest. EBITDA grows 5% a year, about $40M of cash a year pays down debt, and you exit at 10x after five years. Roughly what is the return?
- Depreciation increases by $10. Walk me through how each of the three financial statements changes.
- What makes a company a good leveraged buyout candidate?
What to expect
Pen and paper only, no calculator, and they wanted the IRR within a couple of points using rules of thumb. The accounting question was a warm-up but they expected it to be instant. Most of the discussion was about the business-quality question.
Practice this exact interview.
Mockd plays the interviewer live, using these questions and notes, then grades your answers.
Start a practice session Browse all case files