60 min
60-Minute Live LBO
A one-hour LBO on the firm's template, taken live on Zoom. The whole case is free, with no signup.
You send backExcel model
Free
Take it freePractice Tests / 1-Hour Investment Discussion
- 1 hour + prep
- Discussion
- Memorandum
- Private equity
1-Hour Investment Discussion
Read a 53-page memorandum, take a view on the investment and defend it for an hour.
You get the test, the notes I prepared, my two quick models and a two-page debrief.
Lantern Court Parking Services, a fictional company · Recreated from a test I took in November 2023
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What you are given
A 53-page memorandum and five questions.
This is a page from the test. Select it to read it at full size.
What the test asks
- Read a company memorandum as an investor would have in the year it was written.
- Decide whether it is an attractive investment, and name the merits and the risks.
- Say what you would diligence first: the questions, the analyses and the data you would request. The firm stressed this part.
- Judge the industry and the company's competitive position.
- Then say what you would change about your view ten years later.
- No model and no written work. One hour of conversation.
What the answer looks like
There was nothing to hand in, so the answer is what I prepared: the notes I talked from and two quick LBO models. The debrief says what the firm asked in the hour and gives the numbers to check yours against.
Take the free 60-minute test to see how a case is laid out
What you get
Start here.pdf1 page
1 - The test
1 - The assignment.pdf1 page
2 - Lantern Court Parking Services - Information memorandum.pdf53 pages
2 - My answer
1 - My prep notes.pdf6 pages
2 - Quick LBO - management forecast.xlsx
3 - Quick LBO - my own case.xlsx
3 - Debrief
Debrief.pdf2 pages
Who it is for
- Anyone facing a case discussion or a "walk me through this deal" round, where the output is your judgment and not a file.
- You should be able to read a memorandum and know what an LBO needs. No modeling is required.
- Two to five hours to prepare, one hour to talk it through, and about 30 minutes to compare with my notes and read the debrief.
The story
This was the second test in the process that began with the free 60-minute model test. In November 2023 I was interviewing for an associate role at a private equity firm. Two days after the model test, the firm set up a case discussion: a company memorandum about a day ahead, two to five hours of prep, then a one-hour conversation.
No model or written work was asked for. The memorandum arrived on a Wednesday morning with five things to be ready on. The discussion was the next afternoon on Zoom.
I started my notes that evening and saved them the next morning, along with two quick LBO models.
Before you start
Is this the real test?
It is recreated from the test I took. The format, the five questions and the time limit are the same. The company is fictional and its dollar figures are changed.
Where is the answer?
There was nothing to hand in. My answer is what I prepared: the notes I talked from and two models nobody asked for. I cleaned the notes up for the library, and the debrief says what changed.
Why do the models say Port Alder?
I built them on top of my model from the round before and never renamed it. That is how they were.
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