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Tikehau Capital Interview Questions & Answers (2026)
Investment careers · 2026 interview playbook

Tikehau Capital Interview Questions & Answers

A detailed, practical guide to credit underwriting, private equity, real assets, capital markets and investment judgement — with 72 questions and six fully worked financial cases.

Last updated: · Independent Senna preparation guide
72Interview questions
6Worked investment cases
8Preparation categories
14Day study plan
Understand the platform

What makes Tikehau Capital different?

Tikehau Capital combines an entrepreneurial approach with investment expertise across credit, real assets, private equity and capital markets strategies. Candidates should be able to move between company-level underwriting, financing structures, asset valuations and portfolio risk.

Its published materials emphasize alignment of interests, fundamental analysis and thematic opportunities including decarbonisation, regenerative agriculture, aerospace and cybersecurity. The relevant interview content depends on the hiring team. Official strategy overview ↗

CreditDirect lending, structured credit, downside and recoveries
Private equityThematic investing, valuation and operational returns
Real assetsProperty cash flows, infrastructure and DSCR
Capital marketsFixed income, duration, spreads and issuer selection
La Défense business district seen from the Seine in Paris
Paris business district · Wikimedia Commons photography
Skyline of La Défense, Paris
Financial district architecture · Wikimedia Commons photography

The photography depicts Paris and is illustrative, not a representation of Tikehau Capital offices or portfolio assets.

How to approach the interview

Prepare for three complementary tasks: explain a clear investment thesis, defend the numbers under stress and identify risks that cannot be solved by a spreadsheet. For credit roles, emphasize cash flow and capital preservation. For equity roles, explain value creation and exit economics. For real assets, test contracted revenues, financing and terminal values.

Practice under real interview pressure

Technical follow-ups, investment pitches and live calculations.

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Interactive question bank

72 Tikehau Capital interview questions

Search any question or filter by topic. Expand a question to see a substantive answer framework. These are independently developed practice questions, not confirmed questions asked by Tikehau Capital.

Showing 72 questions

Why Tikehau Capital rather than a traditional buyout-only fund?+
Answer framework

Explain its entrepreneurial, multi-asset model spanning credit, real assets, private equity and capital markets. Connect the choice to flexible financing across the capital structure, disciplined downside analysis and collaboration between teams.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How does Tikehau Capital make money?+
Answer framework

Separate recurring management fees from performance fees, investment income and other balance-sheet effects. Discuss fee-paying AUM, deployment, realizations, fundraising, costs and investment performance without assuming all AUM generates the same fee.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is distinctive about its alignment of interests?+
Answer framework

Discuss the use of its balance sheet to invest alongside clients, management ownership and how co-investment can align incentives while also concentrating financial risk. Verify current figures before citing them.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Which Tikehau investment strategy interests you most?+
Answer framework

Choose a specific strategy, such as direct lending or decarbonisation private equity, explain its return engine and risk, then link it to a researched market trend and your analytical strengths.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you explain Tikehau to an entrepreneur seeking financing?+
Answer framework

Describe how different debt and equity instruments address growth, acquisition, refinancing and asset investment needs. Explain trade-offs in cost, control, maturity, covenants and dilution.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How does the firm differ from a bank?+
Answer framework

Contrast fund-based investment capital and discretionary underwriting with regulated bank lending, deposits and capital rules. Note that specific products and legal structures matter.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What makes a strong investment thesis?+
Answer framework

State the market mispricing or opportunity, structural driver, business quality, entry price, return pathway, downside cases and falsifiable diligence milestones.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is the difference between impact intent and investment performance?+
Answer framework

Separate measurable real-world outcomes from financial returns. Define baselines, additionality, KPIs, reporting, and guard against greenwashing or unsupported causal claims.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What would you research before meeting a Tikehau investment professional?+
Answer framework

Review the firm’s strategy pages, recent annual and half-year publications, sector themes, relevant portfolio examples, market spreads and financing conditions; prepare a thoughtful counterargument.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Walk through the three financial statements.+
Answer framework

Explain net income flowing into retained earnings, non-cash charges added back in cash flow, working-capital changes and financing activity changing cash and debt.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Why can EBITDA differ substantially from free cash flow?+
Answer framework

Identify capex, cash taxes, interest, working-capital investment, restructuring and lease costs. Distinguish EBITDA conversion from true cash available for debt repayment.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you calculate enterprise value from equity value?+
Answer framework

Begin with equity value; add debt and debt-like items and non-controlling interests, subtract cash and non-operating assets as appropriate. Avoid blindly treating all lease or pension items identically.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you value a cyclical industrial business?+
Answer framework

Normalize through-cycle EBITDA, stress volumes and margins, benchmark trading and transaction multiples, and use a scenario DCF with realistic reinvestment requirements.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Explain a DCF and its main sensitivities.+
Answer framework

Forecast unlevered free cash flow, discount at WACC and add terminal value. Stress long-run growth, exit multiple, margin, capex and discount rate; reconcile implied valuation to peers.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What happens when depreciation rises by €10 at a 25% tax rate?+
Answer framework

EBIT and pretax income decline €10, tax falls €2.5, net income declines €7.5; operating cash flow rises €2.5 after adding back the €10 non-cash expense, assuming no other changes.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you normalize EBITDA for a credit case?+
Answer framework

Review add-backs for recurrence, documentation and realizability; reverse aggressive synergies and one-offs, and examine cash conversion and seasonality.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would higher rates affect valuations?+
Answer framework

Higher risk-free rates can raise discount rates and financing costs; impact varies with duration, cash flow resilience, leverage, hedging and credit spreads.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is the difference between EV/EBITDA and P/E?+
Answer framework

EV/EBITDA is capital-structure neutral before D&A; P/E values equity after interest and taxes. Explain sector comparability, accounting differences and cash-flow limitations.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Underwrite a €100m first-lien term loan.+
Answer framework

Assess business quality, normalized EBITDA, leverage, interest coverage, liquidity, covenant headroom, collateral, debt ranking, downside enterprise value and refinancing sources.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What makes a covenant meaningful?+
Answer framework

Specify metric definition, test frequency, cushion, baskets, permitted debt, cure rights and enforcement. A headline leverage covenant is not sufficient without reading documentation.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Compare unitranche and senior-plus-mezzanine structures.+
Answer framework

Unitranche simplifies documentation and blends pricing; a split structure differentiates lender seniority, returns and intercreditor protections. Consider all-in cost and execution.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you calculate interest coverage?+
Answer framework

Use EBITDA/cash interest as an initial screen, then test EBIT or cash-flow-based coverage. Account for floating rates, hedges, PIK components and maintenance capex.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you stress a borrower facing a 15% EBITDA decline?+
Answer framework

Recalculate leverage, interest coverage, cash flow, covenant cushion, debt paydown and collateral value. Test mitigation and whether a rescue financing is viable.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is the distinction between a default and a loss?+
Answer framework

Default triggers distress or missed obligations; realized loss depends on collateral, seniority, recovery timing, legal costs and restructuring outcomes.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do CLO equity and CLO debt differ?+
Answer framework

Debt tranches receive prioritized contractual payments subject to subordination; equity takes residual cash flows and first-loss risk. Discuss reinvestment tests, OC/IC tests and manager quality.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you analyze a secondary purchase of a private credit fund interest?+
Answer framework

Assess NAV quality, portfolio concentration, loan marks, unfunded commitments, distributions, discount, vintage and liquidity; build a cash-flow model, not just a discount calculation.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What does lender downside protection mean in practice?+
Answer framework

Describe covenants, collateral, guarantees, seniority, amortization, security perfection, intercreditor rights and realistic enterprise value support, not just a low LTV.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Walk through an LBO in five steps.+
Answer framework

Set entry EV and funding mix; project EBITDA and free cash flow; schedule debt repayments; calculate exit EV and equity proceeds; derive MOIC and IRR with sensitivities.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Why can a low entry multiple still be a poor investment?+
Answer framework

Structural decline, cash burn, excessive capex, customer concentration, regulation and weak management can offset apparently cheap valuation.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you diligence a cybersecurity investment?+
Answer framework

Assess customer urgency, differentiation, ARR quality, retention, CAC efficiency, product efficacy, compliance, competitive positioning and exit multiple sensitivity.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you evaluate an aerospace supplier?+
Answer framework

Analyze backlog quality, customer concentration, certification, program exposure, working capital, supply-chain bottlenecks, margins and end-market cycles.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How does growth equity differ from control buyouts?+
Answer framework

Growth investors may accept minority governance, lower leverage and reliance on organic expansion; control buyouts can pursue operational change and debt-financed returns.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you calculate dilution in a primary round?+
Answer framework

Post-money value equals pre-money plus new cash; new investor ownership equals investment divided by post-money, before option-pool and other adjustments.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What drives exit multiple expansion or compression?+
Answer framework

Growth, profitability, quality, recurring revenue, cyclicality, rates, sector sentiment and deal size; avoid making multiple expansion the sole return driver.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you evaluate a regenerative agriculture business?+
Answer framework

Test commercial economics, unit margins, adoption rates, measurable environmental outcomes, land or supply constraints and customer willingness to pay.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is the best response to a weak investment memo?+
Answer framework

Identify the one or two unsupported assumptions driving returns, request evidence, quantify downside and propose specific diligence that could change the decision.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you value a sale-and-leaseback transaction?+
Answer framework

Analyze sustainable rent, tenant credit, lease term, escalators, maintenance obligations, residual property value, yield and leverage.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Explain a capitalization rate.+
Answer framework

Cap rate equals net operating income divided by asset value; holding NOI constant, a higher cap rate implies lower valuation. Check whether NOI is stabilized.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What makes infrastructure cash flows defensive?+
Answer framework

Contracted revenues, regulated returns, essential services and inflation linkage can help, but counterparty, construction, regulatory and demand risks remain.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you evaluate a data-center asset?+
Answer framework

Examine contracted capacity, utilization, power availability, cooling, capex, tenant concentration, lease structure and energy costs; distinguish shell from fully equipped facilities.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is DSCR and why does it matter?+
Answer framework

Debt service coverage ratio equals cash available for debt service divided by scheduled interest plus principal; test distributions, covenant thresholds and downside.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What changes in a renewable energy project model?+
Answer framework

Project generation, power price/PPA, merchant exposure, curtailment, operating costs, maintenance capex, debt service, taxes and terminal assumptions.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How does an interest-rate rise affect real estate equity?+
Answer framework

Higher debt cost and exit cap rates may reduce cash flow and property value; hedges, rent growth and fixed-rate financing can mitigate effects.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you stress tenant concentration in a logistics portfolio?+
Answer framework

Model vacancy, re-letting period, tenant incentives, rent reversions, debt service and forced-sale values.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you evaluate a PPP infrastructure opportunity?+
Answer framework

Review concession duration, availability payments, construction and operating risk allocation, termination provisions, counterparties and lifecycle maintenance.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do bond prices respond to changes in yield?+
Answer framework

Approximate percentage price change as negative modified duration times yield change, with convexity adjustment for larger moves.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is credit spread and why does it change?+
Answer framework

Spread compensates for expected loss, liquidity, risk premium and technical conditions. Separate issuer fundamentals from market-wide repricing.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you compare a high-yield bond and a private loan?+
Answer framework

Compare expected return net of defaults, seniority, covenants, liquidity, mark-to-market volatility, fees and concentration.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is duration risk in a bond portfolio?+
Answer framework

Duration measures first-order rate sensitivity; consider curve exposures, spread duration, convexity and liability matching.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you assess concentration risk?+
Answer framework

Examine single name, sector, geography, sponsor, vintage, currency and correlated factor exposures; stress common shocks.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is the difference between IRR and MOIC?+
Answer framework

MOIC measures total multiple of invested capital; IRR annualizes timing of cash flows and can be distorted by early distributions or subscription lines.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you build a downside case for a credit portfolio?+
Answer framework

Model defaults, recovery rates, spread widening, liquidity, refinancing walls, sector correlations and fund-level leverage.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is liquidity mismatch?+
Answer framework

It arises when investor redemption or liability timing differs from asset liquidity. Analyze gates, notice periods, fund structure and stressed selling costs.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you judge whether a fund return is skill or beta?+
Answer framework

Compare against appropriate vintage, sector and risk-adjusted benchmarks, leverage, market timing, valuation methods and repeatability.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you assess a decarbonisation investment thesis?+
Answer framework

Quantify emissions baseline, cost curve, adoption drivers, unit economics, policy sensitivity and whether impact metrics are measurable and additional.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you avoid greenwashing in an investment memo?+
Answer framework

Separate documented outcomes from projections, state methodologies and scope boundaries, identify trade-offs and use independent verification where possible.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What is the difference between climate mitigation and adaptation?+
Answer framework

Mitigation reduces emissions; adaptation improves resilience to climate effects. Identify separate financial and impact KPIs for each.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you value a carbon-intensive company in transition?+
Answer framework

Model transition capex, energy prices, regulation, customer demand, stranded-asset risk and terminal valuation rather than relying on a generic ESG discount.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What makes a cybersecurity business a resilience investment?+
Answer framework

Connect cyber risk reduction to customer willingness to pay and recurring demand, while analyzing technology obsolescence, churn and competitive intensity.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you evaluate biodiversity-related revenue?+
Answer framework

Identify who pays, what measurable service is delivered, verification requirements, permanence, regulation and market depth.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you weigh impact against return?+
Answer framework

Clarify the strategy mandate and constraints; assess impact additionality and investment risk separately, then determine whether the opportunity satisfies both.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What KPIs would you track for an energy-efficiency retrofit?+
Answer framework

Track energy use per square metre, verified savings, retrofit capex, tenant retention, rental uplift, payback and avoided emissions.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you challenge an overly optimistic thematic forecast?+
Answer framework

Stress adoption pace, pricing, subsidies, competitive supply, financing cost and evidence of customer conversion.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Tell me about an investment opinion you changed.+
Answer framework

Use a specific example: initial thesis, disconfirming evidence, revised analysis and decision. Emphasize intellectual honesty.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Describe a time you found an error in a financial model.+
Answer framework

Explain the error, materiality, validation method, correction and communication to stakeholders.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you handle a disagreement with a senior investor?+
Answer framework

Present evidence and alternative scenarios concisely, invite challenge, and support the final team decision while documenting key risks.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you prioritize two urgent due diligence requests?+
Answer framework

Clarify decision deadlines and materiality, identify critical-path analyses, communicate trade-offs and produce transparent first-pass outputs.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Pitch an investment in 90 seconds.+
Answer framework

Cover asset, thesis, entry price, return drivers, downside and decisive diligence question. Avoid unsupported precision.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How do you respond when you do not know an answer?+
Answer framework

State the gap, explain the analytical method, identify required data and avoid inventing facts.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What would you do if you suspected aggressive EBITDA add-backs?+
Answer framework

Reconcile adjustments to invoices and historical trends, present normalized earnings and escalate material discrepancies.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

How would you prepare for a live credit case study?+
Answer framework

Practice reading a credit pack, identifying cash-flow risk, calculating ratios, stressing downside and articulating a lending recommendation.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

What questions would you ask the interviewer?+
Answer framework

Ask how underwriting differs across strategies, how balance-sheet alignment affects decisions, how teams collaborate and what distinguishes top-performing juniors.

Interview tip: Quantify the key driver, state a downside risk and explain what evidence would change your conclusion.

Turn preparation into interview confidence

Practice the questions that matter for your target strategy.

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Financial modelling practice

Six worked investment case studies

All case companies and figures are hypothetical teaching examples. Calculations are simplified and exclude fees or taxes where specified.

Worked case 01 · Hypothetical

Direct lending: cash interest and downside

Scenario. A borrower has €75m EBITDA, €375m first-lien debt, €25m cash, a 7.5% all-in interest rate, €12m maintenance capex, €9m cash taxes and €5m working-capital outflow. EBITDA falls 20% in stress.

Worked solution

Gross leverage = 375/75 = 5.0×; net leverage = (375−25)/75 = 4.67×. Interest = €28.125m; EBITDA/interest = 2.67×. Simplified post-interest cash generation = 75−28.125−12−9−5 = €20.875m. At stressed EBITDA €60m, coverage falls to 2.13× and gross leverage rises to 6.25×. If all other costs remain constant, cash generation falls to €5.875m. Challenge covenant headroom and refinancing.

Investment committee challenge: Which assumption most threatens the outcome, and how would you diligence it?

Worked case 02 · Hypothetical

European buyout: returns bridge

Scenario. Acquire a business at €90m EBITDA and 10× EV/EBITDA. Finance with €450m debt and €450m equity. After five years EBITDA reaches €120m, exit multiple is 9× and debt falls to €300m. Ignore fees and distributions.

Worked solution

Entry EV = €900m. Exit EV = €1,080m. Exit equity = 1,080−300 = €780m. MOIC = 780/450 = 1.73×; five-year IRR = (780/450)^(1/5)−1 ≈ 11.6%. At an 8× exit multiple, equity = €660m, MOIC 1.47× and IRR ≈ 8.0%. Discuss multiple compression and cash generation.

Investment committee challenge: Which assumption most threatens the outcome, and how would you diligence it?

Worked case 03 · Hypothetical

Real estate: cap-rate repricing

Scenario. An asset generates €18m stabilized NOI. It is bought at a 5.0% cap rate using €180m debt. One year later NOI rises 5%, but market cap rates expand to 6.0%. Ignore transaction costs.

Worked solution

Entry asset value = 18/0.05 = €360m; initial equity = €180m. New NOI = €18.9m; value = 18.9/0.06 = €315m. With unchanged debt, equity value = €135m, a 25% decline before distributions. Explain how modest income growth can be overwhelmed by yield expansion.

Investment committee challenge: Which assumption most threatens the outcome, and how would you diligence it?

Worked case 04 · Hypothetical

Renewables: debt service coverage

Scenario. A contracted solar asset generates 240,000 MWh annually at €70/MWh. Cash operating costs are €4.2m, lifecycle maintenance €1.0m, and annual debt service €7.5m. Assume no taxes or curtailment.

Worked solution

Revenue = 240,000×70 = €16.8m. Cash available for debt service = 16.8−4.2−1.0 = €11.6m. DSCR = 11.6/7.5 = 1.55×. At 15% lower generation, revenue = €14.28m, cash available = €9.08m and DSCR = 1.21×. Discuss covenant triggers and PPA counterparty risk.

Investment committee challenge: Which assumption most threatens the outcome, and how would you diligence it?

Worked case 05 · Hypothetical

Private debt secondary: discount and distributions

Scenario. A credit fund interest has €100m reported NAV and €15m unfunded commitments. Purchase price is 90% of NAV. Over three years the buyer contributes €10m and receives €115m in total distributions. Assume distributions occur entirely at year three for simplified IRR.

Worked solution

Initial purchase price = €90m; aggregate invested capital = €100m including €10m called. Gross profit = 115−100 = €15m; simplified MOIC = 1.15×. If all €100m is treated as invested at day zero, three-year IRR = 1.15^(1/3)−1 ≈ 4.77%. Actual IRR requires dates of capital calls and distributions. Explain NAV mark uncertainty and remaining unfunded exposure.

Investment committee challenge: Which assumption most threatens the outcome, and how would you diligence it?

Worked case 06 · Hypothetical

Capital markets: duration and spread stress

Scenario. A €200m bond portfolio has modified duration 4.5 years and spread duration 4.0 years. Risk-free yields rise 50bp and credit spreads widen 75bp. Ignore convexity and carry.

Worked solution

Estimated rates impact = −4.5×0.005 = −2.25%. Spread impact = −4.0×0.0075 = −3.00%. Combined price impact ≈ −5.25%, or −€10.5m on €200m. Distinguish approximation from exact repricing and test issuer credit migration.

Investment committee challenge: Which assumption most threatens the outcome, and how would you diligence it?

14-day Tikehau Capital preparation plan

Build technical depth before rehearsing investment committee judgment. Adapt the allocation to your target desk.

Day 01Research the firm and its investment strategies
Day 02Master accounting links and cash conversion
Day 03Practice enterprise and equity valuation
Day 04Build a direct-lending credit memo
Day 05Stress covenants, liquidity and recovery
Day 06Model a five-year leveraged buyout
Day 07Review thematic private equity investments
Day 08Model real estate NOI and cap rates
Day 09Practice infrastructure DSCR cases
Day 10Study bonds, spreads and duration
Day 11Review sustainability and impact diligence
Day 12Prepare three concise investment pitches
Day 13Run a full timed mock interview
Day 14Revisit weak areas and prepare questions

Ready to test your answers?

Get targeted feedback on technical and behavioural performance.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Tikehau Capital?

A global alternative asset manager with businesses in credit, real assets, private equity and capital markets strategies.

Is Tikehau Capital a private equity firm?

Private equity is one business line, but the firm also manages credit, real assets and liquid capital markets strategies.

What technical questions are common in a credit interview?

Expect leverage, cash interest coverage, covenants, free cash flow, recovery analysis and downside scenarios.

What should I know about Tikehau private equity?

Prepare for thematic investing, company valuation, growth, leverage, operational improvement and exit scenarios.

Do Tikehau internships involve modelling?

Requirements vary by team and role. Practicing three-statement analysis, credit ratios, LBOs and concise investment memos is prudent.

What is Tikehau Capital’s investment philosophy?

Its official materials emphasize entrepreneurialism, alignment of interests, fundamental analysis and tailored financing solutions.

How should I prepare for a real assets interview?

Review NOI, cap rates, lease economics, DSCR, infrastructure contracts and refinancing sensitivity.

What is a unitranche loan?

A single debt facility combining risk characteristics of senior and subordinated financing, often with one blended coupon.

What is a strong investment pitch?

A clear thesis, evidence, valuation, downside, catalysts and decisive diligence questions.

How many interview rounds are there?

Processes vary by geography, seniority, strategy and hiring team; no single round count is guaranteed.

Does the guide contain actual Tikehau interview questions?

No. These are independent practice questions based on relevant financial skills and publicly available strategy information.

How long should I prepare?

A focused two-week plan can help, but preparation depends on your baseline technical skills and interview timeline.

What makes a strong candidate answer?

Structured thinking, accurate numbers, commercial judgment, awareness of downside and honest handling of uncertainty.

How can I practice a mock interview?

Use a timed practice session with both technical and investment-judgment follow-ups, then revise weak areas.

Research and image credits

Official sources for business descriptions and public strategy information:

Photography credits (Wikimedia Commons, images are cropped to fit their containers):

All photography loads from Wikimedia Commons and requires internet access. Licence terms, including attribution and share-alike obligations, apply to reuse and adaptations. Senna is independent of Tikehau Capital; this is not an official recruiting document.