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This Technical Note is intended for use by practitioners and academics, including MBA students, who are learning to model leveraged buy-outs. The note discusses the structuring of leveraged buy-outs, a step-by-step approach to modeling a leveraged buy-out, a detailed section on frequently asked questions related to the assumptions behind leveraged buy-outs, and a sample model. An instructional video accompanies the materials.

Spreadsheet supplement for CU143.

Though it had wiped out billions of dollars of debt "Houdini-style" in the past, in 2008 the future of Caesars Entertainment Corporation was uncertain. This case presents students with the company's complex financial circumstances and an overview of the industry in which it competes, as seen through the lens of an associate at a credit hedge fund. Charged by the firm's senior portfolio manager with assessing an investment in the debt securities of Caesars Entertainment Corporation, the associate is asked to analyze the terms of a proposed leveraged buy-out.

The winter of 2009 posed challenges to Cengage Learning, a highly levered provider of textbooks and professional materials that had been carved out of Thomson-Reuters through a 2007 LBO. The recession had not only weakened its pricing power, but its benchmark bonds had plunged to a level that in ordinary years would indicate a distressed value. Yet paired with these difficulties came an opportunity to reduce debt amid dislocations in the high yield and leveraged loan markets. In this case students study materials such as Cengage's capital structure and debt recovery analysis to create a pitchbook recommending whether the company should pursue debt repurchases, a debt-for-debt exchange, or maintain its current position.