The special situations group is very unique at the firm. It's a global group and it focuses on investing in multiple different types of assets. It will take direct equity stakes in firms as well as lend to firms right across the different capital structures. It tends to focus on mid-size companies, probably that don't have access to the large financial markets that big firms do.
We're going to take a brief look at the different products and industries that the special situations group gets involved in. We'll have a look at how they calculate the returns for different investments and we'll have a look at the sources and uses of funds, which is an overview which describes the deal structure for a particular transaction. We'll have a detailed look at the sources of funds because that describes exactly the different securities that are helping fund a business or transaction. As part of that debt capacity, the amount of debt that a firm can sustain, we will look at in two ways. Firstly, using multiples, which is a fairly quick and dirty method of establishing debt capacity. And then we took a little more of a detailed look using cash flows that the firm generates. The different product set and industries that the special situation group looks at is diverse. It will cover specialty lending. These are securities or lending products that are fairly unique and not actively traded or not common in the financial world.
The group makes direct investments in firms to help them grow and develop and that will be described as private capital investing. So this is investing in the equity of private firms. It will also provide lending to other financial institutions who are making loans themselves direct to customers and firms. It gets involved in the alternative energy market, helping finance, wind power, and solar energy. And lastly but not least, the firm and group will get involved in financing real estate projects. These are the main products and areas that the special situation group looks at.
