Acquisition finance
Build a funding plan the business can carry.
Financing is more than finding someone willing to lend. Understand the source of funds, the repayment timetable, the security, and what happens if performance changes.
The same purchase price can hide different obligations.
Bank debt, seller balances, and equity can all contribute to an acquisition. Their economics differ. A lender expects repayment under a credit agreement; an equity partner accepts ownership risk; a seller may wait for a fixed payment or accept a contingent earn-out.
The guide starts with the full payment schedule and then examines each funding source. It treats source leverage ratios and borrowing costs as contextual examples, not offers available to every buyer.
Start the financing lessonsExplore the financing choices
Firms & intermediaries →Start with the whole capital stack
Understand how the sources of funds add up and why their claims are not interchangeable.
Buyer equity and search capital
Separate money to support the search from money invested in an acquisition.
Bank borrowing
Follow the path from borrower story and lender interest to credit approval and conditions.
Seller financing
Distinguish deferred payment, repayment capacity, creditor priority and future refinancing risk.
Asset-based lending
Read collateral quality and lender valuation assumptions before applying an advance rate.
Equity partners
Understand ownership dilution, investor fit and the difference between interest and a funded subscription.
Private credit
Explore non-bank, investor-funded credit and the limits of what the source evidence demonstrates.
Direct lending
See how a lender underwrites an operating company, documents protection and manages a workout.
Mezzanine and subordinated debt
Understand junior ranking, cash versus accrued interest and exit dependence.
Institutional debt
Keep a proposed institutional package separate from committed and completed financing.
Subordination and seniority
Understand bank-senior and seller-junior ranking, then examine institutional intercreditor questions.
Hybrid economic structures
Examine preferred ownership and equity with revenue participation without relabeling them as ordinary loans.
Government-backed lending: the evidence boundary
The collection does not teach a complete SBA acquisition-finance process. Apparent transcript references are qualified.
Debt service and cash capacity
Model principal, interest and seller payments together; distinguish earnings from available cash.
Read the conditions, not only the headline amount.
Separate an illustrative benchmark and spread from an actual lender quote.
See how principal payments change the annual cash burden.
Understand monitoring and restrictions before a business misses a test.
Distinguish company obligations from personal exposure.
An optional path through private credit
Start with the buyer’s payment burden, then cross to the lender’s view. These links reuse the course and topic guides.
Sources & further viewing 7 videos · 3 guides
The explanations on this site are independent synthesis. Follow each original for full context. A reported experience is not independent proof of a transaction.
- Just when you think the deal is closed… it usually isn’t
- This is how you borrow millions from the bank.
- Watch me try to buy a business (LIVE deal breakdown)
- Zero to £100M | Merger & Acquisition entrepreneur doing business in Copenhagen | vlog 3
- Failure is inevitable in private equity (here’s how to fix it)
- How To Raise Money To Buy A Business In 2025 | vlog 13
- M&A entrepreneur on getting investors to back £10M deals in UK
Fund Launch’s guides add capital-provider and fund-manager context. Read each original for its full argument and current terms.