What a paper LBO is
A paper LBO is the private equity interview's favorite filter: with nothing but a pen, paper, and a prompt, you build a simplified leveraged buyout, solve for the returns, and defend your assumptions out loud. These paper LBO practice problems replicate that pressure on purpose — five timed drills, each with a full worked solution showing every intermediate number, so you can drill, diagnose your mistakes, and repeat until the math is automatic.
The mechanics never change: buy the company at an entry multiple, fund part of the price with debt, pay the debt down over the hold period, sell at an exit multiple, and compute what the equity earned. IRR and MoIC are the only two outputs that matter, and both come from one equation — equity value equals enterprise value minus net debt — applied at entry and at exit. If you've never built one from scratch, read our paper LBO example walkthrough first, then come back and run these drills cold.
Untimed practice teaches you the math; timed practice teaches you the interview. Firms are scoring your triage instincts — which shortcuts are safe, which inputs actually move the answer — and that only shows up under a clock.
How to use these drills
These paper LBO practice problems only work if you treat them like the real thing. Follow these rules every time:
- Pen and paper only. No Excel, no calculator beyond basic arithmetic. The interview gives you a pen; practice with a pen.
- 30-minute cap per drill. Set a timer. When it rings, pens down — even mid-calculation. Partial answers under time pressure are exactly what you're training.
- Write every assumption down first. Entry EV, debt, equity, paydown, exit EV, exit equity — in that order, before you touch returns.
- Score yourself after, not during. Compare your final IRR and MoIC against the worked solution, then trace any gap back to the exact line where your math diverged.
- Repeat misses within 48 hours. Redo any drill where your IRR was off by more than 2 points until you can land it clean twice in a row.
One simplification runs through every drill below, and it's the standard interview shorthand: we assume operating cash flow exactly covers the mandatory debt amortization each year, so no excess cash builds up and net debt equals gross debt throughout. If that shorthand is new to you, start with our free paper LBO drill — it walks the base case slowly before you go timed.
The five timed drills
Each drill below is a self-contained paper LBO practice problem: scenario, assumptions table, worked solution with every step shown, and the one line the interviewer is really scoring. Drills 2 through 5 reuse Drill 1's company so you can feel how each lever — entry price, leverage, recaps, target returns — moves the answer.
Drill 1 — The classic: full 5-year paper LBO
30 MINScenario. You're shown a distributor with $40M of EBITDA. A sponsor buys it at 8.0x EBITDA with 50% leverage, holds for 5 years, grows EBITDA at 10% per year, amortizes 5% of the original debt balance annually, and exits at 10.0x EBITDA. Compute IRR and MoIC.
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Entry EBITDA | $40.0M |
| Entry multiple | 8.0x |
| Leverage (% of EV) | 50% |
| Hold period | 5 years |
| EBITDA growth | 10% / yr |
| Annual amortization | 5% of original debt |
| Exit multiple | 10.0x |
Worked solution.
Step 1 — Entry. Entry EV = $40.0M × 8.0 = $320.0M. Debt = 50% × $320.0M = $160.0M. Equity in = $320.0M − $160.0M = $160.0M.
Step 2 — Exit EBITDA. Year 5 EBITDA = $40.0M × 1.105 = $40.0M × 1.61051 = $64.4M (rounded).
Step 3 — Exit EV. $64.4M × 10.0 = $644.2M.
Step 4 — Debt at exit. Annual paydown = 5% × $160.0M = $8.0M. Over 5 years: $40.0M repaid. Remaining debt = $160.0M − $40.0M = $120.0M.
Step 5 — Exit equity. $644.2M − $120.0M = $524.2M.
Step 6 — Returns. MoIC = $524.2M ÷ $160.0M = 3.28x. IRR = 3.2761/5 − 1 = 26.8%.
Sanity check. Total value created = $524.2M − $160.0M = $364.2M. That should equal EV growth ($644.2M − $320.0M = $324.2M) plus debt repaid ($40.0M) = $364.2M. ✓
Did you subtract the remaining debt at exit — not the entry debt — before computing equity? That's the single most common failure point on this exact problem.
Drill 2 — Entry-multiple sensitivity: 7x vs 9x
30 MINScenario. Same company, same 5-year hold, same 10% growth, same 10.0x exit, same 50% leverage and 5% amortization. But the auction is competitive: what do returns look like if you win at 7.0x versus stretching to 9.0x?
| Line ($M) | 7.0x entry | 9.0x entry |
|---|---|---|
| Entry EV | 280.0 | 360.0 |
| Debt in (50%) | 140.0 | 180.0 |
| Equity in | 140.0 | 180.0 |
| Annual paydown (5%) | 7.0 | 9.0 |
| Debt at exit | 105.0 | 135.0 |
| Exit EV (same) | 644.2 | 644.2 |
| Exit equity | 539.2 | 509.2 |
| MoIC | 3.85x | 2.83x |
| IRR | 31.0% | 23.1% |
Worked solution (key steps). At 7.0x: entry EV = $40.0M × 7 = $280.0M; equity in = $140.0M; paydown $7.0M/yr leaves $105.0M of debt; exit equity = $644.2M − $105.0M = $539.2M; MoIC = 539.2 ÷ 140.0 = 3.85x; IRR = 3.8511/5 − 1 = 31.0%. At 9.0x: entry EV = $360.0M; equity in = $180.0M; paydown $9.0M/yr leaves $135.0M; exit equity = $644.2M − $135.0M = $509.2M; MoIC = 509.2 ÷ 180.0 = 2.83x; IRR = 2.8291/5 − 1 = 23.1%.
Two turns of entry multiple compress IRR by roughly 8 percentage points (31.0% → 23.1%). That compression is the whole game in competitive auctions — and exactly why sponsors obsess over entry price.
Whether you state the takeaway, not just the numbers: "paying 9x instead of 7x costs ~800 bps of IRR." Candidates who narrate the sensitivity get the follow-up questions; candidates who just read numbers don't.
Drill 3 — Leverage tweak: 40% vs 60% debt
30 MINScenario. Same deal at the base 8.0x entry ($320.0M EV). The debt markets move: compare funding with 40% leverage versus 60% leverage. Same 5% amortization, 5-year hold, 10.0x exit.
| Line ($M) | 40% leverage | 60% leverage |
|---|---|---|
| Debt in | 128.0 | 192.0 |
| Equity in | 192.0 | 128.0 |
| Annual paydown (5%) | 6.4 | 9.6 |
| Debt at exit | 96.0 | 144.0 |
| Exit equity | 548.2 | 500.2 |
| MoIC | 2.86x | 3.91x |
| IRR | 23.3% | 31.3% |
Worked solution (key steps). At 40%: equity in = $320.0M − $128.0M = $192.0M; paydown $6.4M/yr leaves $96.0M; exit equity = $644.2M − $96.0M = $548.2M; MoIC = 548.2 ÷ 192.0 = 2.86x; IRR = 2.8551/5 − 1 = 23.3%. At 60%: equity in = $128.0M; paydown $9.6M/yr leaves $144.0M; exit equity = $644.2M − $144.0M = $500.2M; MoIC = 500.2 ÷ 128.0 = 3.91x; IRR = 3.9081/5 − 1 = 31.3%.
More leverage adds roughly 8 points of IRR — but name the tradeoff out loud: at 60% leverage, $192.0M of debt at 8% costs ~$15.4M of annual interest against $40.0M of entry EBITDA, barely 2.6x coverage. One bad year and the equity story breaks. If you want the full intuition on how leverage splits across the two return metrics, our MOIC vs IRR piece works through it.
Whether you volunteer the risk side unprompted. Anyone can read the higher IRR; the candidate who says "but coverage gets thin" is the one who sounds like an investor.
Timed Paper-LBO Drills
Six full timed paper-LBO drills with diagnostic answer keys — the exact modeling-test format.
$29Drill 4 — Dividend recap in year 3
30 MINScenario. Back to the base deal (Drill 1: $160.0M debt, $160.0M equity). At the end of year 3, the company recaps: it borrows 4.0x year-3 EBITDA, repays the remaining original debt, and dividends the difference to equity holders. Compute the new IRR and MoIC — and explain which metric moves and why.
Worked solution.
Step 1 — Year-3 EBITDA. $40.0M × 1.103 = $40.0M × 1.331 = $53.2M.
Step 2 — Recap debt. 4.0 × $53.24M = $213.0M (rounded).
Step 3 — Repay old debt. Remaining original debt after 3 years of $8.0M amortization = $160.0M − $24.0M = $136.0M.
Step 4 — Dividend. $213.0M − $136.0M = $77.0M paid to equity at year 3.
Step 5 — Debt at exit. New amortization = 5% × $213.0M = $10.65M/yr for years 4–5 = $21.3M repaid. Remaining = $213.0M − $21.3M = $191.7M.
Step 6 — Exit equity. $644.2M − $191.7M = $452.5M.
Step 7 — Returns. Total proceeds = $77.0M + $452.5M = $529.5M. MoIC = 529.5 ÷ 160.0 = 3.31x. IRR solves −160 + 77/(1+r)3 + 452.5/(1+r)5 = 0 → 29.4%.
Compare with the base case: IRR jumps from 26.8% to 29.4%, while MoIC barely moves (3.28x → 3.31x). The recap pulls cash forward in time, which is exactly what IRR rewards — MoIC doesn't care when the money arrives. That's the twist interviewers love: it proves you understand the difference between the two metrics, not just the arithmetic.
The explanation, more than the math: "IRR rises because cash comes earlier; MoIC is nearly flat because total proceeds barely change." Say that sentence and you've answered the real question.
Drill 5 — Reverse-engineer: what entry multiple clears a 25% IRR?
30 MINScenario. Your fund needs a 25% IRR. Same company ($40.0M EBITDA, 10% growth, 5-year hold, 10.0x exit, 50% leverage, 5% amortization). What is the maximum entry multiple you can pay?
Worked solution.
Step 1 — Convert the IRR target to a MoIC target. Over 5 years, 25% IRR requires MoIC = 1.255 = 3.05x.
Step 2 — Express everything in terms of the entry multiple E. Entry EV = 40E. Debt in = equity in = 20E. Annual paydown = 5% × 20E = E, so 5-year paydown = 5E and debt at exit = 20E − 5E = 15E. Exit equity = 644.2 − 15E.
Step 3 — Solve. MoIC = (644.2 − 15E) ÷ 20E = 3.0518. So 644.2 − 15E = 61.04E → 644.2 = 76.04E → E = 8.47x. Defensible answer in the room: ~8.5x.
Step 4 — Verify. At 8.47x: entry EV = $338.9M, debt = equity = $169.4M, paydown $8.5M/yr leaves $127.1M of debt, exit equity = $644.2M − $127.1M = $517.1M, MoIC = 517.1 ÷ 169.4 = 3.05x → IRR = 25.0%. ✓
Step 5 — Gut-check the leverage. $169.4M of debt at 8% ≈ $13.6M of interest on $40.0M EBITDA — about 2.9x coverage. Tight but financeable, so the answer is credible, not just arithmetic.
Whether you convert the IRR hurdle to a MoIC target first — that's the pro move — and whether you sanity-check the implied leverage instead of just circling a number.
Mistakes we see most
Across every batch of paper LBO practice problems we grade, the same five errors account for nearly every blown drill. They're all cheap to fix once you've seen them named:
| Mistake | What goes wrong | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Subtracting entry debt at exit | You compute exit equity as exit EV minus the original debt, ignoring 5 years of paydown — understating equity by the full repaid amount. | Always write "debt at exit" as its own line: entry debt minus cumulative amortization. |
| Exit EV on entry EBITDA | You multiply the entry $40M EBITDA by the exit multiple instead of the grown year-5 figure — collapsing all your growth to zero. | Circle the exit-year EBITDA before you touch the exit multiple. Growth is the point of the deal. |
| Annualizing MoIC linearly | You estimate IRR as (MoIC − 1) ÷ years — e.g., calling a 3.28x over 5 years "45.6%." The real answer is 26.8%. | IRR compounds: IRR = MoIC(1/years) − 1. Memorize 1.255 ≈ 3.05x and 1.35 ≈ 3.71x as anchors. |
| Dropping interim cash flows | In recap or dividend problems, you add the dividend to MoIC but forget it changes IRR timing — or leave it out entirely. | List every cash flow with its year before solving: −160 at t=0, +77 at t=3, +452.5 at t=5. |
| Solving for the wrong variable | On reverse-engineer questions, you iterate multiples by guess-and-check instead of setting up the equation — and run out of time. | Convert the IRR target to a MoIC target first, express exit equity in terms of the unknown, and solve algebraically (see Drill 5). |
When you catch yourself mid-mistake, say so out loud and correct it. Interviewers score recovery as highly as accuracy — sponsors want analysts who catch their own errors before the IC memo goes out.
Timed Paper-LBO Drills
Six full timed paper-LBO drills with diagnostic answer keys — the exact modeling-test format.
$29Frequently asked questions
How long should a paper LBO take in an interview?
Most firms give you 20 to 30 minutes for a paper LBO, and some run a 10-minute quick-and-dirty version to test whether you can triage. If you consistently need more than 30 minutes, you are overcomplicating it — usually by modeling detail that does not move the answer. The drills on this page are capped at 30 minutes each for exactly that reason.
Do I need to memorize the LBO formulas?
No. There are only two relationships that matter: equity value equals enterprise value minus net debt, and IRR is the annualized growth rate behind your MoIC. Everything else — entry EV, debt paydown, exit equity — is plain arithmetic built on those two. Memorize the structure of the walk, not a list of formulas.
What IRR is considered good on a paper LBO?
A 20% IRR is the classic private equity hurdle rate, so anything in the low-to-mid 20s reads as a solid deal. North of 30% starts to raise the interviewer's eyebrow — not in a good way — because it usually means your leverage is aggressive or your exit multiple is heroic. Be ready to defend every input that pushes you past 30%.
What is the difference between a paper LBO and a full LBO model?
A paper LBO is done with pen and paper in about 30 minutes: simplified assumptions, no tax shield, no working capital schedule, just entry math, debt paydown, exit math, and returns. A full LBO model is built in Excel over hours or days with full financial statements, a debt schedule, and sensitivity tables. The paper version tests whether your logic is sound; the Excel version tests whether your modeling is.
Are these paper LBO practice problems enough to pass a PE modeling test?
They lock in the logic, which is where most candidates fail — but many real modeling tests happen in Excel, not on paper. Use these paper LBO practice problems until the walk-through is automatic, then practice the same mechanics in a spreadsheet under time pressure. Our timed paper-LBO drill pack is built in exactly that test format.