Structured finance

Structured finance covers debt structures designed for a specific transaction, such as an acquisition, an LBO or a refinancing. The structure divides the debt into tranches of different ranks, relies on security and covenants and brings together several lenders where relevant. The common formats are the syndicated loan, the club deal, unitranche, the Euro PP and asset-based lending. According to the Banque de France, outstanding financing of French non-financial corporations reached €2,196.2bn at the end of August 2026, of which €759.1bn was market financing. The average cost of new financing stood at 3.73% in August 2026. The site’s Corporate structured finance page describes these structures from €20m.

To buy a competitor for €180m, a mid-cap company combines €110m of unitranche and €70m of equity. It also obtains a €20m acquisition facility, undrawn at signing, for its next transactions.

• The order of priority between the tranches and the intercreditor agreement
• The overall cost of the structure, including fees
• The security required and how it is shared among lenders
• The room left for future acquisitions and distributions