Skip to content
Felix
  • Topics
    • My List
    • Felix Guide
    • Asset Management
    • Coding and Data Analysis
      • Data Analysis and Visualization
      • Financial Data Tools
      • Python
      • SQL
    • Credit
      • Credit Analysis
      • Restructuring
    • Financial Literacy Essentials
      • Financial Data Tools
      • Financial Math
      • Foundations of Accounting
    • Industry Specific
      • Banks
      • Chemicals
      • Consumer
      • ESG
      • Insurance
      • Oil and Gas
      • Pharmaceuticals
      • Project Finance
      • Real Estate
      • Renewable Energy
      • Technology
      • Telecoms
    • Introductory Courses
    • Investment Banking
      • Accounting
      • Financial Modeling
      • M&A and Divestitures
      • Private Debt
      • Private Equity
      • Valuation
      • Venture Capital
    • Markets
      • Economics
      • Equity Markets and Derivatives
      • Fixed Income and Derivatives
      • Introduction to Markets
      • Options and Structured Products
      • Other Capital Markets
      • Securities Services
    • Microsoft Office
      • Excel
      • PowerPoint
      • Word & Outlook
    • Professional Skills
      • Career Development
      • Expert Interviews
      • Interview Skills
    • Risk Management
    • Transaction Banking
    • Felix Live
  • Pathways
    • Investment Banking
    • Asset Management
    • Equity Research
    • Sales and Trading
    • Commercial Banking
    • Engineering
    • Operations
    • Private Equity
    • Credit Analysis
    • Restructuring
    • Venture Capital
    • CFA Institute
  • Certified Courses
  • Ask An Instructor
  • Support
  • Log in
  • Topics
    • My List
    • Felix Guide
    • Asset Management
    • Coding and Data Analysis
      • Data Analysis and Visualization
      • Financial Data Tools
      • Python
      • SQL
    • Credit
      • Credit Analysis
      • Restructuring
    • Financial Literacy Essentials
      • Financial Data Tools
      • Financial Math
      • Foundations of Accounting
    • Industry Specific
      • Banks
      • Chemicals
      • Consumer
      • ESG
      • Insurance
      • Oil and Gas
      • Pharmaceuticals
      • Project Finance
      • Real Estate
      • Renewable Energy
      • Technology
      • Telecoms
    • Introductory Courses
    • Investment Banking
      • Accounting
      • Financial Modeling
      • M&A and Divestitures
      • Private Debt
      • Private Equity
      • Valuation
      • Venture Capital
    • Markets
      • Economics
      • Equity Markets and Derivatives
      • Fixed Income and Derivatives
      • Introduction to Markets
      • Options and Structured Products
      • Other Capital Markets
      • Securities Services
    • Microsoft Office
      • Excel
      • PowerPoint
      • Word & Outlook
    • Professional Skills
      • Career Development
      • Expert Interviews
      • Interview Skills
    • Risk Management
    • Transaction Banking
    • Felix Live
  • Pathways
    • Investment Banking
    • Asset Management
    • Equity Research
    • Sales and Trading
    • Commercial Banking
    • Engineering
    • Operations
    • Private Equity
    • Credit Analysis
    • Restructuring
    • Venture Capital
    • CFA Institute
  • Certified Courses
Felix
  • Data
    • Company Analytics
    • My Filing Annotations
    • Market & Industry Data
    • United States
    • Relative Valuation
    • Discount Rate
    • Building Forecasts
    • Capital Structure Analysis
    • Europe
    • Relative Valuation
    • Discount Rate
    • Building Forecasts
    • Capital Structure Analysis
  • Models
  • Account
    • Edit my profile
    • My List
    • Restart Homepage Tour
    • Restart Company Analytics Tour
    • Restart Filings Tour
  • Log in
  • Ask An Instructor
    • Email Our Experts
    • Felix User Guide
    • Contact Support

Completion Mechanisms

Understand the two main ways of completing an M&A transaction with a focus on the locked box method.

Unlock Your Certificate   
 
0% Complete

16 Lessons (49m)

Show lesson playlist
  • Description & Objectives

  • 1. Completion Accounts Introduction

    02:20
  • 2. Completion Accounts the Traditional Solution

    03:18
  • 3. Completion Accounts Calculations

    04:16
  • 4. Why we need Completion Adjustments Workout

    03:48
  • 5. Working Capital and Capex Completion Adjustments Workout

    02:34
  • 6. Working Capital Liquidation Workout

    02:48
  • 7. Working Capital Higher than Expected Workout

    02:14
  • 8. Adjustments Over Time Workout

    05:40
  • 9. Dividend Payment Just Before Completion Workout

    01:20
  • 10. Issues with the Completion Accounts Mechanism

    01:23
  • 11. Locked Box Mechanisms Introduction

    03:35
  • 12. Locked Box Mechanisms Calculations

    03:27
  • 13. Locked Box Mechanism Workout

    03:57
  • 14. Completion Mechanisms Compared

    03:17
  • 15. Case in Point Workout

    06:00
  • 16. Completion Mechanisms Tryout


Prev: Synergy Analysis Next: Divestiture Modeling

Working Capital Liquidation Workout

  • Notes
  • Questions
  • Transcript
  • 02:48

Working Capital Liquidation Workout

Downloads

Working-Capital-Liquidation-Workout-EmptyWorking-Capital-Liquidation-Workout-Full
Back to top
Financial Edge Training

© Financial Edge Training 2025

Topics
Introduction to Finance Accounting Financial Modeling Valuation M&A and Divestitures Private Equity
Venture Capital Project Finance Credit Analysis Transaction Banking Restructuring Capital Markets
Asset Management Risk Management Economics Data Science and System
Request New Content
System Account User Guide Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Log in
Transcript

In this workout, we've got a company, Buyer Incorporated who's acquiring Target Limited. And we've got some information below. This is the enterprise value, the 300, which is the agreed cash free, debt free price, which is just the legal name for enterprise value. And the information from the accounts pre-offer had levels of cash of 50, debt of 100 and we assume that the average level of working capital in the business should be around 100. Now, sometime later at completion when we receive the completion accounts, we can see that the cash balance was as we expected, 50. And the debt balance is also as expected as 100. But the working capital you can see is zero. Now, normally, if a company's working capital liquidates, goes down to zero from 100 as it has done here, that would normally release cash. So we would, if there's no leakage expect a corresponding increase in the cash balance of 100. So the cash balance would be 150. And so if the cash was 150, then although the cash has gone up by 100 because the working capital has gone down, the buyer would be equal because the equity value would go up by 100 because of cash, but you'd have a working capital adjustment that would be a negative 100 and you'd be indifferent in that situation. But in this case, the cash hasn't changed, which actually probably means that the vendor who's selling the business has taken out the cash that has come from the working capital being liquidated. So the equity value and announcement in this case would be the 300 enterprise value. And then we would add on the balance of cash there and we'd subtract the balance of debt to get 250. The closing equity value is gonna still start with the underlying enterprise value. We'll assume that hasn't changed, and we'll add on the balance of cash and we'd subtract the balance of debt. But in this case, the working capital is lower than expected. In other words, the gas tank is empty. So we need to be compensated for that and we would reduce the price by the difference. So what I'm going to do is I'm gonna add in parentheses the working capital actual balance minus the working capital average or permanent level of working capital, and what we should see here is that the closing equity value is less than the equity value and announcement reflecting that the working capital has liquidated and critically that the cash from that liquidation has left the business.

Content Requests and Questions

You are trying to access premium learning content.

Discover our full catalogue and purchase a course Access all courses with our premium plans or log in to your account
Help

You need an account to contact support.

Create a free account or log in to an existing one

Sorry, you don't have access to that yet!

You are trying to access premium learning content.

Discover our full catalogue and purchase a course Access all courses with our premium plans or log in to your account

You have reached the limit of annotations (10) under our premium subscription. Upgrade to unlock unlimited annotations.

Find out more about our premium plan

You are trying to access content that requires a free account. Sign up or login in seconds!

Create a free account or log in to an existing one

You are trying to access content that requires a premium plan.

Find out more about our premium plan or log in to your account

Only US listed companies are available under our Free and Boost plans. Upgrade to Pro to access over 7,000 global companies across the US, UK, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Hong Kong and more.

Find out more about our premium plan or log in to your account

A pro account is required for the Excel Add In

Find out more about our premium plan

Congratulations on completing

This field is hidden when viewing the form
Name(Required)
This field is hidden when viewing the form
Rate this course out of 5, where 5 is excellent and 1 is terrible.
Were the stated learning objectives met?(Required)
Were the stated prerequisite requirements appropriate and sufficient?(Required)
Were the program materials, including the qualified assessment, relevant and did they contribute to the achievement of the learning objectives?(Required)
Was the time allotted to the learning activity appropriate?(Required)
Are you happy for us to use your feedback and details in future marketing?(Required)

Thank you for already submitting feedback for this course.

CPE

What is CPE?

CPE stands for Continuing Professional Education, by completing learning activities you earn CPE credits to retain your professional credentials. CPE is required for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Financial Edge Training is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors.

What are CPE credits?

For self study programs, 1 CPE credit is awarded for every 50 minutes of elearning content, this includes videos, workouts, tryouts, and exams.

CPE Exams

You must complete the CPE exam within 1 year of accessing a related playlist or course to earn CPE credits. To see how long you have left to complete a CPE exam, hover over the locked CPE credits button.

What if I'm not collecting CPE credits?

CPE exams do not count towards your FE certification. You do not need to complete the CPE exam if you are not collecting CPE credits, but you might find it useful for your own revision.


Further Help
  • Felix How to Guide walks you through the key functions and tools of the learning platform.
  • Playlists & Tryouts: Playlists are a collection of videos that teach you a specific skill and are tested with a tryout at the end. A tryout is a quiz that tests your knowledge and understanding of what you have just learned.
  • Exam: If you are collecting CPE points you must pass the relevant CPE exam within 1 year to receive credits.
  • Glossary: A glossary can be found below each video and provides definitions and explanations for terms and concepts. They are organized alphabetically to make it easy for you to find the term you need.
  • Search function: Use the Felix search function on the homepage to find content related to what you want to learn. Find related video content, lessons, and questions people have asked on the topic.
  • Closed Captions & Transcript: Closed captions and transcripts are available on videos. The video transcript can be found next to the closed captions in the video player. The transcript feature allows you to read the transcript of the video and search for key terms within the transcript.
  • Questions: If you have questions about the course content, you will find a section called Ask a Question underneath each video where you can submit questions to our expert instructor team.