# privatecredit.wiki

> privatecredit.wiki is a structural reference for private credit mechanics, giving explicit formulas and worked arithmetic for waterfall recovery and tranche attachment, SOFR-based pricing and yield to expected take-out, MOIC and the paid-in ratios, covenant and EBITDA-definition headroom, and the leverage and valuation rules of the vehicles that hold the assets.

Private credit is explained qualitatively almost everywhere and quantitatively almost nowhere, which is where the confusion begins: the terms that decide who gets paid what are arithmetic, and the arithmetic is short. This reference states it. Every entry that changes a payment, a recovery, a covenant headroom, or a fee carries an explicit formula and a worked example whose numbers compute. Notation is uniform throughout. P is par principal and Q a tranche quantum; B is the base rate, F the base-rate floor, CSA the credit spread adjustment and S the credit spread, so the cash coupon r = max(B, F) + CSA + S. OID and fees are quoted in points of par, where one point is one percent of P. Y is an all-in yield, n the years to stated maturity and m the years to an assumed take-out. EV is enterprise value and claims and quantums are stated in turns of EBITDA where that is how they are negotiated. In fund arithmetic, E is equity or net assets, D is fund-level debt, L = D/E the leverage ratio, c the all-in cost of that debt, and R_a and R_e the asset-level and equity-level returns. In loss arithmetic, d is the annualised default rate on par, R the recovery on defaulted par, and LGD = 1 - R. Rates are decimals unless quoted in basis points, where 100 bps is 1.00 percent. Statutory limits, accounting standards, and named market conventions are cited to their source. Everything else - spreads, fee rates, default rates, leverage levels - appears only as an illustrative input chosen to make a calculation legible. Nothing here is a market-terms survey and no number in a worked example should be read as a benchmark or a typical level.

Published and maintained by Wall Street Wiki, https://wallstreet.wiki. Contact: wallstreetwiki@agentmail.to. A reference published by the wallstreet.wiki network. Every figure is stated as a formula and recomputed from it, every convention names the authority that sets it, and corrections are versioned and dated.

Corpus: 55 defined terms and 19 reference tables across 5 sections. Reviewed 2026-08-27. Licensed CC BY 4.0.

Each section has a JSON endpoint carrying the same facts without markup or navigation. Measured on this corpus a section's JSON is 36 to 60 percent of the bytes of the equivalent HTML page. The full corpus is available in one request.

Content dates reflect editorial review, not build time. Use the change feed below to decide what to re-crawl rather than re-fetching the whole corpus; every JSON endpoint carries a reviewed field and sitemap.xml lastmod carries the per-section review date.

Calculator pages take their inputs as URL query parameters and compute in the browser. There is no API and no key.

## Data endpoints

- [Full corpus](https://privatecredit.wiki/llms-full.txt): every section inlined as Markdown, one request
- [Full corpus, JSON](https://privatecredit.wiki/index.json): the same content as structured JSON
- [Capital structure and instruments, JSON](https://privatecredit.wiki/structure.json): 13 terms, 3 tables
- [Pricing and yield mechanics, JSON](https://privatecredit.wiki/pricing-mechanics.json): 11 terms, 4 tables
- [Return metrics, JSON](https://privatecredit.wiki/returns.json): 10 terms, 4 tables
- [Documentation and covenants, JSON](https://privatecredit.wiki/covenants.json): 13 terms, 5 tables
- [Fund and vehicle structures, JSON](https://privatecredit.wiki/vehicles.json): 8 terms, 3 tables

## Freshness

- [Change feed](https://privatecredit.wiki/changes.json): dated record of what changed and when, spec wiki-changes/1
- [Change feed, Atom](https://privatecredit.wiki/feed.xml): the same feed as Atom
- [Sitemap](https://privatecredit.wiki/sitemap.xml): lastmod carries the per-section review date

## Reference pages

- [Capital structure and instruments](https://privatecredit.wiki/structure/): Every private credit instrument, where it sits in the waterfall, who takes the first loss, and what that costs.
- [Pricing and yield mechanics](https://privatecredit.wiki/pricing-mechanics/): Base rate, spread, floor, discount and fees - and the exact arithmetic that turns them into a yield.
- [Return metrics](https://privatecredit.wiki/returns/): MOIC, IRR, the PI ratios, loss adjustment, and what fund-level leverage does to all of them.
- [Documentation and covenants](https://privatecredit.wiki/covenants/): Financial covenants with their formulas, the EBITDA definition that determines all of them, and the liability-management transactions that the covenants did not stop.
- [Fund and vehicle structures](https://privatecredit.wiki/vehicles/): BDC, drawdown fund, interval fund and SMA - leverage limits, asset coverage arithmetic, and how a Level 3 mark becomes a NAV.

## Calculators

- [Unitranche versus first-lien plus mezzanine calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/): Compares the borrower's all-in cost of capital and each lender's yield across a unitranche, a first-lien plus second-lien, and a first-lien plus mezzanine structure at the same total leverage, with OID, fees, floors, and an assumed take-out year. Computes blended spread across tranches, weighted average all-in cost of capital to the borrower, all-in yield per tranche to stated maturity, all-in yield per tranche to the assumed take-out, attachment and detachment in turns of EBITDA per tranche, cash interest, PIK accrual, and total interest burden, pro forma interest coverage and net leverage, enterprise value at which each tranche stops being money-good. Parameters: ebitda, tranches, base, floor, csa, fees, maturity, takeout, call, ev.
- [Loss-adjusted return and breakeven default rate calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/loss/): Converts an all-in yield into a loss-adjusted return and a breakeven default rate, unlevered and through a fund-level leverage facility, and shows the return on equity and the cushion at each turn of leverage. Computes expected annual credit loss, d times LGD, loss-adjusted asset yield, levered return on equity, R_a times (1 + L) minus c times L, loss-adjusted levered return on equity, asset return at which equity return is zero, breakeven default rate to a zero return, breakeven default rate to a stated hurdle, breakeven default rate at each turn of leverage, net return after management and incentive fees. Parameters: yield, default, recovery, leverage, cost, hurdle, mgmtfee, feebase, incentive, catchup.

## Calculator examples

- [Unitranche versus first-lien plus mezzanine calculator](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): a unitranche split 3.0x first-out and 2.5x last-out at the same 5.5x total leverage; returns the 722.7 bps blended spread, each tranche's yield to a 3-year take-out, and the 21.4 percent enterprise value cushion beneath the last-out
- [Unitranche versus first-lien plus mezzanine calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/?ebitda=40&tranches=fl:0:3.0:450:1.0:0,sl:3.0:5.5:900:2.0:0&base=4&floor=1&takeout=3&ev=7): the same 5.5x leverage as a separate first lien and second lien; compare the weighted average cost of capital against the unitranche case above
- [Unitranche versus first-lien plus mezzanine calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/?ebitda=40&tranches=fl:0:4.0:475:1.0:0,mezz:4.0:5.5:1200:0:400&base=4&floor=1&takeout=5&maturity=6&ev=7): first lien to 4.0x plus a mezzanine layer with 400 bps of the coupon paid in kind, held to a 5-year take-out; shows how the PIK accrual enlarges the mezzanine claim and moves its breakeven enterprise value
- [Unitranche versus first-lien plus mezzanine calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/?ebitda=40&tranches=fl:0:3.0:500:2.0:0&base=4&floor=1&fees=1&maturity=6&takeout=3&call=102,101,100): a single first lien at 2 points of OID and 1 point of retained fee; returns 9.45 percent to a 6-year maturity, 9.80 percent to a 3-year take-out at par, and 10.21 percent including the retained fee
- [Unitranche versus first-lien plus mezzanine calculator](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=0.3&floor=1&csa=10&takeout=3&ev=7): the same unitranche with the base rate below the floor; the floor contributes 70 bps to every tranche's coupon and the CSA adds 10 bps more
- [Loss-adjusted return and breakeven default rate calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/loss/?yield=9.8&default=2&recovery=60&leverage=0&hurdle=0): unlevered: 80 bps of expected loss, a 9.00 percent loss-adjusted yield, and a 24.5 percent breakeven default rate to a zero return
- [Loss-adjusted return and breakeven default rate calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/loss/?yield=9.8&default=2&recovery=60&leverage=1&cost=6&hurdle=0): levered 1:1 at 6.00 percent: 13.60 percent gross return on equity, 12.00 percent loss-adjusted, equity wiped at a 3.00 percent asset return, and the breakeven default rate cut from 24.5 to 17.0 percent
- [Loss-adjusted return and breakeven default rate calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/loss/?yield=9.8&default=2&recovery=60&leverage=2&cost=6&hurdle=0): levered 2:1: 17.40 percent gross return on equity and a 14.5 percent breakeven default rate - each added turn buys less return and costs more cushion
- [Loss-adjusted return and breakeven default rate calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/loss/?yield=9.8&default=4&recovery=80&leverage=1&cost=6&hurdle=0): the same 80 bps of expected loss from twice the defaults at half the severity; identical loss-adjusted yield, materially different portfolio
- [Loss-adjusted return and breakeven default rate calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/loss/?yield=9.8&default=2&recovery=60&leverage=1&cost=6&mgmtfee=1&feebase=gross&incentive=15&hurdle=7&catchup=full): with fees: a 1.00 percent gross-assets fee is 2.00 percent of equity at 1:1, and a full catch-up takes the incentive fee from 0.69 to 1.74 percent of equity
- [Loss-adjusted return and breakeven default rate calculator](https://privatecredit.wiki/calc/loss/?yield=9.8&default=2&recovery=40&leverage=1&cost=6&hurdle=0): a junior tranche recovery of 40 percent instead of 60: expected loss doubles to 120 bps and the levered breakeven default rate falls to 11.3 percent

## Network

- [wallstreet.wiki](https://wallstreet.wiki): the parent index for this network of references
- [Network registry](https://privatecredit.wiki/network.json): every sibling site, its subject, and its corpus endpoint, spec wiki-network/1
- [hedgefund.wiki](https://hedgefund.wiki/llms.txt): Hedge funds. Institutional hedge fund knowledge graph: terms, strategies, regulations, calculators.
- [venture-capital.wiki](https://venture-capital.wiki/llms.txt): Venture capital. Venture financing arithmetic: liquidation waterfalls, convertible conversion, dilution, term sheet mechanics.
- [options.wiki](https://options.wiki/llms.txt): Options. Deterministic options mathematics: payoff algebra, Greeks in closed form, volatility, margin, expectancy.
- [m-a.wiki](https://m-a.wiki/llms.txt): Mergers and acquisitions. Deal arithmetic: LBO returns and value attribution, accretion and dilution, the value bridge, valuation cross-checks.
- [pe-finance.wiki](https://pe-finance.wiki/llms.txt): Private equity funds. Fund economics: the distribution waterfall, carried interest, performance measurement and what inflates it.
- [fixed-income.wiki](https://fixed-income.wiki/llms.txt): Fixed income. Bond mathematics and market convention: day counts, accrual, price and yield, duration, curves and spreads.
- [quants.wiki](https://quants.wiki/llms.txt): Quantitative finance. Estimators and their failure modes: performance statistics, covariance estimation, portfolio construction, backtest validity.
- [aicrawl.dev](https://aicrawl.dev/llms.txt): AI crawler control. Verified AI crawler registry, robots.txt matching rules, the standards, and what enforcement actually works.

This site owns one subject. A formula or convention appears on exactly one site in the network and the others link to it, so fetching all of them yields no duplicated entries. The membership list is published rather than implied.

## Access and licensing

- [Access terms](https://privatecredit.wiki/access/): the corpus is free under CC BY 4.0; embed licences and hosted API access are the paid products
- [Pricing, JSON](https://privatecredit.wiki/pricing.json): machine-readable price list, what is free, and how to request a quote
- [MCP descriptor](https://privatecredit.wiki/.well-known/mcp.json): every resource and calculator as a tool definition

Nothing on this site is metered. There is no per-crawl charge, no key, and no rate limit; fetch the corpus in one request from llms-full.txt or index.json. The paid products are an embed licence for the calculators and a delivery guarantee on the data, neither of which restricts the free corpus.

## Optional

- [Deep link schema](https://privatecredit.wiki/.well-known/deeplinks.json): machine-readable parameter definitions for the calculators
- [Pricing plan](https://privatecredit.wiki/.well-known/pay-per-crawl.json): which paths are free and what the charged ones cost

Entries carry a source field naming the primary authority where one exists. Entries without one state conventions in general use rather than the rule of any single venue.

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; the structures described here are common patterns, not the terms of any particular deal. Worked examples use illustrative inputs and are not market levels. Consult counsel.