A company has €100M in senior secured debt, €50M in unsecured bonds, and €30M in trade payables. The enterprise value is estimated at €80M. If the company files for insolvency, what is the recovery for each class, assuming strict priority?
An advanced Restructuring question — expect it in final rounds and case-heavy interviews (IB, PE, Big-4 Transaction Services).
THE SHORT ANSWER
Under strict absolute priority, senior secured debt is first in line. With EV of €80M, senior secured recovers €80M (80% recovery). Unsecured bonds and trade payables are pari passu but there is no remaining value after senior debt, so they recover 0%. However, in practice, secured creditors often take a haircut or provide new money, and unsecured may recover something if there is a going-concern premium. This analysis highlights that unsecured creditors are out of the money, making them the fulcrum if a restructuring is attempted.
WHAT INTERVIEWERS LISTEN FOR
- ✓Absolute priority rule
- ✓Waterfall calculation
- ✓Senior secured recovery 80%
- ✓Unsecured zero recovery
- ✓Fulcrum identification
COMMON MISTAKES
- ✗Assuming unsecured get something automatically
- ✗Ignoring pari passu treatment of unsecured and trade
- ✗Not considering going-concern uplift
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