Capital Markets Deal Structure Advisor
Model financing alternatives and stress-test capital structures for M&A and corporate transactions
What You Can Do
You can rapidly evaluate multiple financing structures for M&A, recapitalizations, and growth transactions by modeling different capital stack configurations and comparing them against recent comparable transaction benchmarks. The skill helps you assess debt capacity, analyze covenant headroom across downside scenarios, and stress-test leverage under EBITDA decline, capex disruption, and refinancing risk—enabling you to present optimized structures that balance cost of capital, covenant flexibility, and stakeholder requirements in client presentations and pitch books.
Features
Build and compare multiple financing scenarios (debt, equity, preferred structures) with automatic pro forma calculations
Assess debt capacity and calculate key credit metrics (leverage ratio, interest coverage, DSCR) against market benchmarks and rating agency guidelines
Model maintenance covenants across downside cases (EBITDA decline, capex spikes, revenue disruption) to identify covenant headroom and amendment risk
Create structured documents with financing rationale, capital structure diagrams, pro forma financials, and term sheet summaries
Benchmark your proposed structure against recent comp financing and evaluate cost of capital optimization
Handle multi-currency structures, tax efficiency considerations, and regulatory capital requirements
Analyze pro forma credit metrics against S&P, Moody's, and Fitch rating methodologies
Generate detailed debt capacity analysis, leverage sensitivity tables, and supporting analytics for syndication and credit committee presentations
Example Output
Scenario 1: LBO Leverage Analysis
Base Case Capital Structure:
- Senior Debt: $450M (4.5x EBITDA)
- Subordinated Debt: $150M (1.5x EBITDA)
- Equity: $200M
- Total: $800M
Year 1 Pro Forma Credit Metrics:
- Net Leverage: 4.8x | Interest Coverage: 2.3x | DSCR: 1.2x
Downside Stress (20% EBITDA decline):
- Net Leverage: 6.2x | Interest Coverage: 1.8x | DSCR: 0.9x
- Covenant Breach Risk: High — Fixed Charge Coverage below 1.0x maintenance
Scenario 2: Comparable Transaction Benchmark
| Metric | Your Structure | Market Median | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry Leverage | 4.5x | 4.8x | -6% |
| Pricing (Sr. Debt) | SOFR + 325bps | SOFR + 350bps | +25bps savings |
| Tenor (Sr. Debt) | 7 years | 6.5 years | +6 months extension |
| Covenant Package | Full suite | Full suite | Aligned |
Scenario 3: Covenant Waterfall Summary
- Year 1: Fixed Charge Coverage 1.8x (maintains 1.5x minimum with 20% cushion)
- Year 2: Net Leverage covenant 5.5x (projected 4.9x vs. 5.0x max)
- Refinancing pressure: Low — covenant cushion adequate through Year 3
What's Included
- SKILL.md instruction file with capital structure modeling methodology:
- Capital Stack Template: Pre-built model for senior debt, mezz, preferred, and equity layers with pro forma calculation logic
- Leverage Stress Scenario Framework: Downside case templates (EBITDA decline %, capex inflation, refinancing lag) with automated ratio recalculation
- Covenant Maintenance Checklist: Fixed charge, leverage ratio, interest coverage, and DSCR covenant tracking across quarterly/annual periods
- Comparable Transaction Benchmark Workbook: Recent comp financing data structure for pricing, tenor, and covenant comparison
- Deal Memorandum Outline: Executive summary, capital structure rationale, pro forma financials, term sheet summary, and credit metric analysis sections
Who It's For
- Investment bankers and M&A advisors structuring corporate transactions and financing packages
- Private equity associates and partners evaluating leverage capacity and LBO feasibility
- Corporate development teams analyzing recapitalization and refinancing alternatives
- Debt capital markets professionals preparing lender meetings and syndication materials
- Credit analysts and treasury professionals assessing debt capacity and covenant risk
Best For
- M&A transaction structuring and deal economics modeling
- Leverage and debt capacity analysis for acquisitions and recapitalizations
- Covenant stress-testing and downside scenario planning
- Comparable transaction benchmarking and financing alternative evaluation
- Client presentation preparation and pitch book development for financing strategies
You might also like
You'll architect backtesting systems that separate genuinely profitable strategies from curve-fitted fantasies. The skill guides you through modeling realistic market microstructure, accounting for transaction costs, detecting survivorship bias, and stress-testing strategies across regime changes. You'll implement walk-forward validation, out-of-sample testing, and Monte Carlo simulations to predict actual live performance and identify where backtest results diverge from real trading outcomes.
by fission
You can rapidly value complex structured notes, convertibles, and equity-linked instruments by breaking them into vanilla bonds and embedded derivatives. The skill guides you through scenario analysis, sensitivity testing, and credit spread modeling to identify secondary market mispricings, calculate Greeks, and stress-test barrier knockouts or coupon adjustments. Output includes fair value estimates, comparable valuation matrices, and hedge recommendations defensible to traders and risk committees.
by fission
You can construct rigorous development pro formas that model complex project dynamics—construction budgets, phased timelines, pre-leasing velocity, financing structures, and market assumptions—then run sensitivity analysis to show how changes in rent, construction costs, or hold periods impact returns. This skill produces defensible investment theses suitable for LP presentations, lender submissions, and institutional review committees by capturing interdependencies that simple models miss.
by fission
You can map individual holdings against multiple thematic investment frameworks simultaneously, generating transparency-rich alignment scores that reveal true thematic exposure. Unlike traditional ESG screening, this skill identifies positive exposure to specific trends and solutions, helping you track portfolio concentration within thematic segments, detect misaligned holdings, and quantify drift from stated investment mandates with measurable impact metrics.
by fission
You can conduct rigorous competitive positioning analysis for SaaS companies by mapping competitors across pricing architecture, target buyer personas, feature differentiation, go-to-market efficiency, and retention dynamics. This skill transforms raw competitive data into structured frameworks that identify sustainable competitive advantages, market share vulnerabilities, and valuation implications—helping you differentiate your research thesis from consensus and reduce confirmation bias in your coverage.
by fission
You can ingest multi-property portfolio data and generate comprehensive financial diagnostics, including performance metrics, peer benchmarking, concentration risk analysis, and stress-test scenarios across economic conditions. Claude systematizes the analysis of 10-500+ heterogeneous assets (varying property types, leverage, lease structures, and markets) to identify underperformers, quantify rebalancing impact, and deliver executive summaries with specific buy/sell/hold recommendations backed by financial modeling.
by fission
You can systematically decompose portfolio returns to isolate alpha (manager skill) from beta (passive market exposure) and identify which specific positions, sectors, or factor exposures drove performance. The skill enables rigorous performance attribution across multiple timeframes, generates risk-adjusted performance metrics (Information Ratio, Sharpe ratio, CAPM alpha), and produces institutional-grade client reporting with statistical rigor to support manager evaluation and capital allocation decisions.
by fission
You can systematically evaluate corporate bond issuers by synthesizing quantitative metrics (leverage ratios, cash flow coverage, liquidity), qualitative factors (management quality, competitive positioning, covenant protections), and market signals (credit spreads, relative value) into a cohesive credit opinion. This framework enables you to construct ratings that withstand peer review, document credit theses for investment committees, and respond to market events with quantified analytical support.
by fission