Private Equity interview preparation

Buyout, growth and credit. Every question is either traced to a named firm from a public candidate report, or tagged at desk level when we could not trace it. Answers lead with the point, then the mechanism, then the limitation.

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Question bank

100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them

Questions
100
Traced to a firm
83
Firms
40
Updated
September 2026
Asked at
All firmsAdvent International6Apollo Global Management6Audax Group6Carlyle Group6EQT6Silver Lake6Vista Equity Partners6Warburg Pincus6H.I.G. Capital5Oaktree Capital Management5Platinum Equity5TPG5General Atlantic4Ares Management3Blackstone3Clayton Dubilier and Rice3Guggenheim Securities3Insight Partners3Invesco3Lazard3Neuberger Berman3Nuveen3Truist Securities3Bain Capital2Harris Williams2Kohlberg Kravis Roberts2Millennium Management2Moody's2Rothschild & Co2William Blair2Bessemer Venture Partners1Citi1Evercore1Franklin Templeton1Houlihan Lokey1HPS Investment Partners1KKR1Mizuho1Morgan Stanley1Sycamore Partners1
Topic
All topicsLBO mechanics7Value creation5Returns2Fund economics9Investment judgement18Valuation6Firm knowledge2Credit and financing9Operations4Due diligence8Career and fit11Sector knowledge4Accounting2Deal structuring7Industry knowledge3Brainteasers3
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  1. 071Walk me through the sources and uses table for a buyout.LBO mechanicsIntermediatetechnicalTruist SecuritiesGeneralist · Charlotte · 2024

    Say this

    Uses is everything you have to pay for; sources is where the money comes from. They must equal, and sponsor equity is the plug that makes them balance.

    Then walk it

    1. Uses: the purchase price of the equity, repayment of existing debt if it is not assumed, transaction fees for advisers and lawyers, financing fees, and cash left on the balance sheet to run the business.
    2. Sources: new senior debt, any subordinated or mezzanine tranche, management rollover equity, seller notes if any, cash already on the target's balance sheet, and finally sponsor equity.
    3. Sponsor equity is calculated last as the difference. That is why raising another turn of debt directly reduces the cheque size and mechanically lifts the equity return.
    4. Two things candidates forget: financing fees, which can be two to three percent of the debt raised and are real cash out, and minimum cash to operate, which is a use not a free resource.
    5. Cash on the target's balance sheet is a source, but only the excess above what the business needs to trade. Treating all of it as available is a common error.
    6. The table is also where the structure becomes visible: the mix of senior, mezzanine and equity, and how much management is rolling, are all read off it in one glance, which is why it is the first page of any investment committee memo.

    Where candidates lose it

    Omitting fees and minimum cash. Both are real uses and both make the equity cheque bigger. And treating the entire cash balance as a source when most of it is working capital the business needs to operate.

    Expect next

    • Where does management rollover sit?
    • How much cash would you leave in the business?
    • What happens to the table if you raise another turn of debt?

    Reported by candidates at Truist Securities (Generalist, Charlotte, 2024). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

Firm tags come from public, anonymous candidate reports on Wall Street Oasis: strong signal, not sworn testimony. Firms are named as the places a question was reported, not as partners of Fin Maverick. Answers are written for this page to show how to think out loud; they are not scripts to recite.