There a number of defining characteristics of leverage buyouts The first one is that it is an acquisition transaction We're not looking to buy a small holding of 1% or 2%, we're looking to have outright control and take the company private Second of all, the acquirer is a financial sponsor It's not a strategic buyer, it's not looking to take its current business and merge it with the new business and maybe achieve synergies No, this a special purpose vehicle, set up with funding inside in order to buy the company And private equity is the backing of this The investment horizon is only 3-5 years long followed by a sale So again, not a strategic buyer looking to own this into the long term Now the big defining characteristic of an LBO is that it is financed with debt in order to enhance your returns Having debt funding, paying down that debt is going to exaggerate returns to your equity shareholders Now thinking about that debt, the ability to generate cash flows and repay debt is key Again, to exaggerate those equity shareholder returns And lastly, operational improvements are integral to increasing those cash flows So improve your operations, improve your cash flows, pays down more debt and increases equity shareholder returns