Designing an acquisition financing deck in 72 hours

An investment firm buying a mortgage lender needed debt to fund the deal. Waveup designed the presentation it took to lenders in three days, and the financing closed.Client details are anonymised at the company’s request.

At a glance

Delivered in

72hours

From brief to a lender-ready presentation, so the deal went to market on schedule.

BriefDay 1
Final deckDay 3
LendersOn schedule
FinancingClosed

The deal

Acquisition of a mortgage lender

Funded with debt, the buyer’s equity and a management rollover

Outcome

Financing secured

Deal closed

Client

Investment firm specialising in private credit

Acquisition financing
Private credit

Scope

Lender presentation
Visual identity
Financials and charts

The challenge: a lender-ready deck in three days

The deal was agreed and the numbers were done. The presentation wasn’t.

The bar

One of the world’s largest investment banks was advising, and lenders would judge the deck against the bank’s own work.

The timing

Lender outreach was due to start within days, so the presentation had to go from brief to final in 72 hours.

The story: the numbers lenders check first, on one page

Lenders on deals like this want cash flow of at least 1.25x to 1.35x the annual debt payments. Here is the company’s own coverage, from the lender deck, against that line.

Cash flow against annual debt payments

1.25x
12.0x
17.0x
19.0x

Lenders’ usual minimum
2026 forecast
2027 forecast
2028 forecast

Source: the company’s financial model, as shown in the lender presentation. 1.25x is the usual lender minimum.

Corporate debt sits at 1.5x annual earnings (EBITDA), against the 4.5x to 5x lenders usually cap it at.

What we learned: in a debt deal, design is part of the credit case

Lenders aren’t buying a vision. They’re checking whether the loan gets repaid.

Clarity earns trust

A clear, consistent document tells lenders the buyer runs a tight process before they reach a number.

The numbers are the story

Most of a lender deck is financials. The figure that matters has to be found in seconds.

Lenders can choose

Every deal competes for the same credit committees, so the first document does more work.

What lenders look for first, and how the deck answers it

Every credit committee asks the same questions. The deck answers each one before it comes up.

Can the business repay the debt?
The company’s cash flow and debt levels on a single page, in the ratios lenders use.
Who is paying for what?
The whole deal on one page: how much is debt, how much the buyer puts in, and what it buys.
What happens when rates move?
Why the business keeps earning when interest rates change.

What we did: from finished numbers to a deck lenders act on

The content was ready. We turned it into a presentation lenders could judge at a glance.

Built the visual system
From the buyer’s own brand, at the standard of the investment bank advising the deal.
Made the numbers readable
Every table rebuilt so the figure a credit analyst looks for comes first on the page.
Set one message per page
A clear headline, the evidence underneath, and nothing competing with it.
Delivered on schedule
Brief to final in 72 hours, so lender outreach started as planned.