Every figure below traces to a public filing.
Personal project / LBO model
Zendesk take-private, $10.2bn
- $10.2bn
- Equity value
- 6.2x
- EV / LTM revenue at entry
- 60%
- Sponsor equity cheque
- 1.75x · 11.9%
- MoM and IRR, my operating case
In 2022, Hellman & Friedman and Permira took Zendesk private for $10.2bn. I rebuilt the deal from the SEC filings: three years of historicals, the funding at close, a debt schedule with a cash sweep and a revolver, a DCF, and trading comparables. On my operating case the deal returns about 12% over five years, well below what a fund that size would target. Rather than tune the assumptions until the answer looked better, I wrote up why the gap exists.
- Method
- Sources and uses. Three statement model tied to the 10-K. Debt schedule with cash sweep and revolver. Credit statistics. Value creation bridge. DCF with two terminal value methods cross checked. Trading comparables.
- Finding
- The widely quoted $10.2bn is equity value, not enterprise value. And at 162x LTM adjusted EBITDA the deal cannot be discussed in EBITDA multiples at all, so entry is measured on revenue, which is what the buyers did.
- Build
- 11 tabs, 892 formulas, no hardcoded numbers inside formulas, no external links. Every input logged with its source.
Tear sheet (PDF, 1 page)
Investment memo and workbook available on request
Personal project / M&A case study
PepsiCo and Celsius Holdings, hypothetical $11bn acquisition
- $11.1bn
- Transaction enterprise value
- 27.3%
- Premium to unaffected price
- 19.4x
- EV / LTM EBITDA, peers at 14.4x
- $58m
- Breakeven synergies against $255m assumed
A hypothetical acquisition of Celsius Holdings by PepsiCo, modelled end to end. Two integrated three statement models, one for each company, running from 2023 actuals through 2030 and balancing in every year with no plug. Celsius valued three ways, then the transaction on top: an offer at $42.00 a share, a 27.3% premium, funded 75% cash and 25% stock.
- Method
- Three statement models for acquirer and target. DCF at a 9.58% WACC with both terminal value methods cross checked. Trading comparables. Precedent transactions. Sources and uses. Purchase price allocation. Phased synergies. EPS accretion and dilution with two dimensional sensitivities.
- Finding
- PepsiCo already owns all $1.76bn of Celsius's Series A and Series B convertible preferred, so the purchase price covers the common only. That removes roughly $6.85 per share, and it only surfaces if you read the filings rather than the summary.
- Build
- 13 tabs, 32 integrity checks all reading zero, no plug anywhere, no circular references. PepsiCo historicals tied line by line to the FY2025 10-K.
Investment memo and workbook available on request
Hypothetical throughout. Not a live or advised transaction.
