Restricted payments

A selected builder-basket right is economically option-like.

The teaching tool applies selected CNI, drafting, prior-usage and gate assumptions to a restricted-payments route. It does not parse an agreement, determine contract-specific availability or produce a market price.

Case presets

Closing EBITDA 100m
Hold period 5yrs

CNI path

Year 1 10m
Year 2 25m
Year 3 -40m
Year 4 30m
Year 5 40m
Year 6 45m
Year 7 50m

Drafting

Starter amount 40m
CNI builder share 50%
General basket 25m
Eligible builder equity credits 0m
Declined proceeds 0m
Retained asset-sale proceeds 0m
Prior shared-builder usage 0m
Verified investment-route cap 0m

Valuation bridge

Debt face 600m
Quoted spread (diagnostic) 425bps
Exercise / gate probability 70%

Stochastic CNI layer

Terminal extraction threshold 40m
CNI shock volatility 30% EBITDA
Risk-free discount rate 4.5%

Selected-route capacity estimate

at hold exit

Builder teaching estimate

spread-equivalent, 100% survival

Loading the selected teaching scenario. No result is a legal-capacity conclusion or a market price.

Floor capacity uplift
Capacity / EBITDA
Weighted terminal capacity
Investment-route ceiling
LedgerCapacity is not permission or funded cash
Cumulative covenant CNI
Signed CNI limb
Shared builder after usage
Independent net capacity

The probability input weights the entire shared builder, including any shared starter and equity credits. Independent baskets remain separate assumed permissions, not verified gates.

Exhibit 01Stochastic shared-builder layer · 10,000 seeded paths
Discounted shared builder€0m
Coupon-slice diagnostic0 bps
PV01 bridge (100% survival)0 bps
MC std. error (pair means)±0.0 bps
Discounted floor uplift€0m

Terminal policy sensitivitiesq × terminal 0 bps · terminal pool > €0m 0 bps · q = 1 0 bps

10,000 weighted terminal-capacity samples; independent normal annual shocks, no cash funding, default or early exercise. The standard error covers Monte Carlo sampling only, not model or legal uncertainty.

Exhibit 02Selected-route stack · Whole-limb floor
starter
builder
reloads
leakage
Residual starter 
Residual CNI 
Residual equity / independent 
Asset-sale leakage 
Exhibit 03Builder path · selected rule  no floor

signed CNI limb: selected rule versus no floor; before starter, equity and usage

Exhibit 04Illustrative exit stack by source

measurement-date snapshots with the same entered credits and usage; not a dated funding or payment schedule

Illustrative teaching model: full methodology here. Net covenant CNI first, then apply the selected share or 100% of an aggregate deficit. The selected floor applies to the CNI limb, before shared starter, eligible equity and shared usage. General, declined-proceeds and permitted asset-sale inputs are independent, net unused and non-overlapping by assumption. Capacity is neither funded cash nor lender loss. The stochastic result is discounted, probability-weighted terminal shared-builder capacity, not a calibrated price. RiskyPV01 uses annual payments and 100% survival; coupon-slice diagnostics are not spread-equivalents. None of these amounts is additive to a quoted spread.

Go deeper. Request controlled access to the complete Covenants Bible or read the public nine-part LevFin Book condensed edition.

The full framework is Part VII of the LevFin Book: how covenant permissions interact with earnings history, exercise timing and legal blockers. See also the tool methodology page for the formula, variables and worked example.

What this builder basket calculator does

For the modeled single-accounting-period clause, sum covenant-defined CNI first: apply the selected share if the aggregate is positive, or deduct 100 percent of an aggregate deficit. A whole-limb floor takes the greater of zero and that result without erasing earnings history. A separate per-period floor ignores losing input periods instead. Actual wording governs.

This calculator maps a selected builder route into teaching estimates. Change the CNI path, starter amount, reloads, prior usage, leakage routes and the leverage gate, then compare a selected-route capacity estimate with an option-style teaching estimate in basis points. The stochastic layer runs 10,000 seeded CNI paths around a user-selected centerline.

The selected-route amount is a teaching output from chosen inputs, not a document opinion. Weighted terminal capacity is a scenario weighting, not a tested legal gate or lender-loss estimate. The page keeps three teaching bps objects separate: coupon-slice of the full stack, coupon-slice of the Monte Carlo builder PV, and spread-equivalent via PV01 at 100% survival. Every output is a teaching estimate, not a market price or legal-capacity conclusion.

Read the builder basket methodology for the formula, variables and worked example. Debt-incurrence optionality is the incremental debt calculator; call protection is the make-whole calculator.

Common questions

What is a builder basket in restricted payments?

A builder basket combines a CNI limb, any shared starter and eligible equity credits, less usage. This calculator distinguishes cumulative CNI, whole-limb and per-period floors, independent baskets and legal gates. Its terminal capacity sensitivity is not a lender-loss valuation or an optimal-exercise price.

How does a CNI builder basket typically build?

For the modeled single-accounting-period clause, sum covenant-defined CNI first: apply the selected share if the aggregate is positive, or deduct 100 percent of an aggregate deficit. A whole-limb floor takes the greater of zero and that result without erasing earnings history. A separate per-period floor ignores losing input periods instead. Actual wording governs.

Does this determine legal restricted-payments capacity?

No. The selected-route amount is a teaching output from chosen inputs, not a document opinion. Real restricted-payments capacity interacts with debt baskets, investments, unrestricted subsidiaries and other blockers. The authority is the indenture or credit agreement.

What is the bps bridge?

The page shows three teaching bps objects: two coupon-slice diagnostics (weighted full-stack capacity and discounted shared-builder capacity times quoted spread over debt face), and a PV01 spread-equivalent at 100 percent survival. The coupon-slice diagnostics have no annuity and are not spread-equivalents. None is a market price or relative-value conclusion.

What does the stochastic CNI layer do?

The stochastic layer runs 10,000 seeded CNI paths around a user-selected centerline. That makes the browser readout stable for teaching. It is not a calibrated market model and does not establish a risk-neutral measure.

Is the output a market price or legal conclusion?

No. Every output is a teaching estimate under stated assumptions. It is not a market price, legal-capacity conclusion, trading mark or recommendation.