privatecredit.wiki
Private credit - structure, pricing, and the arithmetic

Cost of capital calculator

A capital stack priced tranche by tranche: each lender's all-in yield, the borrower's blended cost, and the enterprise value at which each layer stops being money-good. Every input is encoded in the URL. All arithmetic runs in the browser.

Capital stack

Tranches are listed most senior first and stack contiguously: each one attaches where the one above it detaches. Amounts are derived from adjusted EBITDA and the leverage turns, so editing either the detachment point or the amount moves the other. Amounts, EBITDA, and enterprise value are all in the same units.

Tranche Attach Detach Amount Basis Spread / coupon (bps) OID (pts) PIK (bps)

Pricing and yield per tranche

Stack totals

Recovery and money-good thresholds

Claims are stated as at the assumed take-out year, so a PIK coupon enlarges the claim it has accreted onto. Recovery is the strict waterfall: each tranche takes what is left of enterprise value after every claim senior to it has been paid in full.

Chart

Bars are the cumulative capital stack in amount terms, senior at the bottom, read left to right. The dots and connecting line are each tranche's all-in yield to the assumed take-out, on the right axis. The dashed horizontal line is enterprise value; a bar segment crossing above it is a tranche that is not money-good.

Share this scenario

Formulas

Every figure above is produced by the identities below. They are reproduced here in full so the page is readable without running anything.

Coupon

The rate actually payable is the greater of the base rate and the floor, plus any credit spread adjustment, plus the credit spread. The floor is an option written by the borrower to the lender on the base rate, and it contributes nothing once the base rate clears it. First lien, unitranche last-out, and second lien tranches are treated as floating on that base; mezzanine and holdco PIK tranches are treated as fixed-rate, so their quoted figure is the whole coupon rather than a margin.

B_eff = max(B, F) + CSA r = B_eff + S (floating tranches) r = S (fixed-rate tranches) r_pik = min(PIK, r) r_cash = r - r_pik spread over base = r - B_eff

Worked: B = 0.30, F = 1.00, CSA = 10 bps, S = 500 bps gives B_eff = 1.10 and r = 6.10 percent. The floor contributed max(1.00 - 0.30, 0) = 70 bps and the CSA 10 bps more. At B = 4.00 the same terms give r = 9.10 percent and the floor contributes nothing.

Tranche quantum, attachment, and detachment

Attach_i = Detach_(i-1) (Attach_1 = 0) Q_i = (Detach_i - Attach_i) * EBITDA Net leverage = sum of Q_i / EBITDA = Detach_last

All-in yield

The yield is the internal rate of return on the actual cash flows over the actual holding period, computed on the lender's net outlay. Original issue discount reduces the outlay and accretes to par; a retained upfront fee reduces the outlay again. A fee the lender pays away raises the borrower's cost without raising the lender's yield, so only the retained portion is entered here.

Price = 100 - OID Net outlay = Price - retained fees Balance_0 = 100 Balance_t = Balance_(t-1) * (1 + r_pik) Cash_t = Balance_(t-1) * r_cash Redemption at year m = Balance_m * (1 + premium_m) All-in yield Y solves 0 = -Net outlay + sum over t = 1..m of Cash_t / (1+Y)^t + Redemption_m / (1+Y)^m

Worked, 2 points of OID and a 9.00 percent cash coupon on a 6-year bullet: the IRR on (-98, +9, +9, +9, +9, +9, +109) is 9.45 percent. The crude approximation r + OID/n gives 9.33 percent and understates it, because the discount is recovered at maturity rather than ratably.

Yield to maturity against yield to take-out

Most sponsor-backed loans are repaid on a refinancing, a sale, or a recapitalisation rather than at their stated maturity, so the holding period assumption moves the answer by more than most of the pricing terms do. Yield to maturity redeems at par. Yield to take-out redeems at the call schedule price for that year, and at par once the schedule has run off.

premium_m = (call price in year m - 100) / 100, else 0 Same IRR as above with m = take-out year

Worked, on the same loan priced at 98 with a 9.00 percent coupon: to a 6-year maturity 9.45 percent; repaid at the end of year 3 at par, the IRR on (-98, +9, +9, +109) is 9.80 percent, 35 bps more; repaid at the end of year 2 at 101, the IRR on (-98, +9, +110) is 10.64 percent, 119 bps more. Shortening the take-out raises the yield whenever the loan is priced below par or carries a call premium, and lowers it whenever it is priced above par. Adding one point of retained fee to the 3-year case takes the net outlay to 97 and the IRR on (-97, +9, +9, +109) to 10.21 percent, a further 41 bps.

Blended spread and weighted average cost of capital

S_blended = sum of (Q_i * spread_i) / sum of Q_i WACC = sum of (Q_i * Y_i) / sum of Q_i

Worked: a first-out of 60 at 450 bps alongside a last-out of 40 at 1050 bps blends to (60 * 450 + 40 * 1050) / 100 = 690 bps. The weights are quantum, not turns, so an unequal split moves the blend.

Interest burden and coverage

Cash interest = sum of Q_i * r_cash_i PIK accrual = sum of Q_i * r_pik_i Total burden = cash interest + PIK accrual Cash coverage = EBITDA / cash interest Total coverage = EBITDA / total burden

A PIK coupon produces no interim cash, so it does not consume cash coverage. It enlarges the claim instead, which is where the cost shows up.

Recovery waterfall and the money-good threshold

Claim_i = Q_i * (1 + r_pik_i)^m at take-out year m Senior_i = sum of Claim_j for all j senior to i Rec_i = min(Claim_i, max(0, EV - Senior_i)) Recovery % = Rec_i / Claim_i Tranche i is money-good while EV >= Senior_i + Claim_i Breakeven EV_i = Senior_i + Claim_i Cushion_i = (EV - Breakeven EV_i) / EV

Worked: EBITDA 40, a first-out attaching 0.0x to 3.0x for 120 and a last-out 3.0x to 5.5x for 100. At an enterprise value of 7.0x, or 280, both are money-good and the last-out sits on a cushion of (280 - 220) / 280 = 21.4 percent. At 4.0x, or 160, the last-out recovers min(100, 160 - 120) / 100 = 40.0 percent while the first-out is still whole. A mezzanine layer with 400 bps of its coupon paid in kind sees its claim grow from 60 to 60 * 1.04^5 = 73.00 over a five-year hold, moving its breakeven from 5.50x to 5.82x of EBITDA on the same enterprise value.

Enterprise value example, three tranches

TrancheClaimSenior claimsRecovery at EV 420Recovery %
First lien3000300100.0
Second lien15030012080.0
Mezzanine7545000.0
Total52542080.0

525 of claims against 420 of value, so the fulcrum sits inside the second lien.

URL parameters

Each tranche in tranches is type:attachLeverage:detachLeverage:spreadBps:oidPoints:pikBps, most senior first. Types are fl first lien, lo unitranche last-out, sl second lien, mezz mezzanine, hpik holdco PIK. pikBps is the portion of the coupon paid in kind, not an addition to it.

ParameterMeaningDefault
ebitdaLTM adjusted EBITDA; tranche amounts derive from this and the leverage attachment points40
tranchesTranche stack, most senior firstfl:0:3.0:450:1.0:0,lo:3.0:5.5:1050:2.0:0
baseAssumed base rate B, in percent, applied to every floating tranche4
floorBase rate floor F, in percent1
csaCredit spread adjustment, in basis points0
feesUpfront fee retained by the lender, in points of par0
maturityYears to bullet maturity, for the yield-to-maturity column6
takeoutYear in which the loan is assumed to be repaid3
callRedemption prices by year from year 1; years beyond the list redeem at par102,101,100
evEnterprise value in turns of EBITDA7

A unitranche split 3.0x first-out and 2.5x last-out at 5.5x total leverage, held to a 3-year take-out:
https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/?ebitda=40&tranches=fl:0:3.0:450:1.0:0,lo:3.0:5.5:1050:2.0:0&base=4&floor=1&takeout=3&ev=7

Published and maintained by · [email protected]. About this reference · privatecredit.wiki · the wider network.

A simplified model. It assumes bullet tranches with no amortisation, no revolver draw or unused fee, no ticking fee, whole-year periods, an annual compounding convention rather than a day-count basis, a single flat base rate across the whole term, no default before the assumed take-out, and a strict waterfall with no intercreditor override. Enterprise value is a point estimate, not a distribution. Real structures are governed by the credit agreement and the intercreditor, not by a formula. See pricing and yield mechanics and capital structure and instruments.

Reference information only. Not legal, tax, accounting, or investment advice. Private credit documents vary materially between transactions, lenders, and jurisdictions, and the definitions that determine every covenant calculation are negotiated rather than standard. Worked examples use illustrative inputs and are not market levels. Consult counsel.