AFO · Acquisition financing
Financing the deal, sized to the combined business.
Acquisition financing turns on the combined entity, not the buyer alone. Lenders underwrite the deal on pro forma cash flow, post-synergy coverage, and the buyer's integration plan. The package needs to demonstrate that the combined business carries the proposed debt cleanly — and that the buyer has run the diligence to back the projection.
What makes this use case distinct
- Pro forma combined-entity coverage modelled, not just trailing.
- Senior + mezz + (if applicable) vendor note structured together.
- Term-sheet review covers covenants, MAC clauses, earn-out triggers.
How this is usually structured
Acquisition, in practice.
Senior debt funds the lion's share of mid-market acquisitions. Coverage tested on the combined business's first 12 months of pro forma EBITDA, not the buyer's standalone trailing twelve. The lender wants to see realistic synergy assumptions (and what happens to coverage if those don't materialize), a quality-of-earnings review on the target, and management's integration roadmap.
Mezzanine and private credit fill the upper-leverage layer when the senior tranche tops out. For a five-times-EBITDA acquisition where the senior lender will go to 3x, mezz takes the 3x–4.5x layer with a higher coupon and often a warrant. The total leverage stack and the blended cost of capital are modelled before the term sheet is signed.
Vendor financing — a portion of the purchase price held back as a seller note — closes the gap between what the lender will fund and what the buyer brings to closing. Common on owner-operator-to-owner-operator deals, often unsecured, sometimes with a working-capital adjustment or earn-out tied to the projection. The vendor note's terms matter as much as the senior package.
3 programs in the catalog · 1 live
Programs that fit acquisition.
Each card links to the program profile. Coming-soon programs are surfaced honestly — the screener routes there with a consultation CTA instead of a self-serve apply link until the integration is wired through.
Cash-flow-underwritten facility from a chartered bank, credit union, or Schedule II lender.
Mezzanine Debt
Coming soonSecond-lien or subordinated debt when senior capacity is exhausted.
Private Credit / Unitranche
Coming soonBespoke debt structures from non-bank private credit funds. Big-ticket only.
Other use cases
Funding a different need?
Each use case has its own structuring conversation. Working capital and equipment look nothing like an MBO; an export ramp doesn’t look like a refinance.
- 3 programs
Refinancing
Refinancing is rarely just about the rate. The original structure was set when the business was a different size, in a different rate environment, with a different mix of operating priorities. A refi is a chance to reset the structure — term, covenants, advance rate, guarantee scope — to where the business actually is now, not where it was three years ago.
Explore the use case
- 3 programs
MBO / buyout
Management buyouts — buying out a founder, admitting a management partner, acquiring the business you've been running — are leverage transactions first and equity transactions second. The leverage stack, the vendor note, and the equity injection each carry distinct economics that compound over the five-to-seven years it usually takes to retire the debt.
Explore the use case
- 2 programs
Real estate
Owner-occupied commercial real estate is a distinct underwriting conversation from pure investment-property lending. The lender is looking at two things at once: the property as collateral, and the operating business as the source of debt service. When both are strong, the structure is straightforward; when one is the weak link, the structure needs to compensate.
Explore the use case
Match the instrument to the use, not the other way round.
Twenty-minute call. Bring the use of proceeds and a rough sense of where the business stands today; we’ll walk through which instrument or stack fits, what providers will want to see, and how long the engagement takes.