Skip to content
Rival
How it worksPrivacyTerms
Explore all of Rival

Explore

  • Compare models
  • All models
  • Image comparison
  • Audio comparison
  • Image generation
  • Best AI for...
  • Arena
  • API pricing
  • Challenges

Discover

  • SubjectiveBench
  • Default Index
  • Research
  • Research downloads
  • Rival Kits
  • Find your AI taste
  • UI Glow-Up
  • VoiceLock
  • Cost Cutter
  • Agent skills
  • Benchmarks vs Vibes
  • Brief
  • Jailbreak
  • Model updates
  • Provider status
  • AI creators

Connect

  • Methodology
  • Advertise
  • Partnerships
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • RSS feed
Rival
How it worksPrivacyTerms
Explore all of Rival

Explore

  • Compare models
  • All models
  • Image comparison
  • Audio comparison
  • Image generation
  • Best AI for...
  • Arena
  • API pricing
  • Challenges

Discover

  • SubjectiveBench
  • Default Index
  • Research
  • Research downloads
  • Rival Kits
  • Find your AI taste
  • UI Glow-Up
  • VoiceLock
  • Cost Cutter
  • Agent skills
  • Benchmarks vs Vibes
  • Brief
  • Jailbreak
  • Model updates
  • Provider status
  • AI creators

Connect

  • Methodology
  • Advertise
  • Partnerships
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • RSS feed
  1. Home/
  2. Challenges/
  3. Mini LBO Underwrite

Loading

More challenges

  • Advanced Investment Memo (IC Memo)Financial modeling
  • Analog Clock SVGImage generation
  • Architectural Blueprint SheetImage generation
  • Botanical Scientific PlateImage generation
  • Brand Poster DesignImage generation
  • Claymation Absurd AdImage generation
Rival
How it worksPrivacyTerms
Explore all of Rival

Explore

  • Compare models
  • All models
  • Image comparison
  • Audio comparison
  • Image generation
  • Best AI for...
  • Arena
  • API pricing
  • Challenges

Discover

  • SubjectiveBench
  • Default Index
  • Research
  • Research downloads
  • Rival Kits
  • Find your AI taste
  • UI Glow-Up
  • VoiceLock
  • Cost Cutter
  • Agent skills
  • Benchmarks vs Vibes
  • Brief
  • Jailbreak
  • Model updates
  • Provider status
  • AI creators

Connect

  • Methodology
  • Advertise
  • Partnerships
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • RSS feed
HardFinancial modeling

Mini LBO Underwrite

Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

Best AI for: Analysis & Critique, Complex Reasoning, Practical Tasks, Mathematics, Statistics

Best AI for Mini LBO Underwrite

Top performers: Mini LBO Underwrite

Feb – Oct 2026
  • Qwen3.6 27B#1 · High confidence83% win rate
  • GPT-6 Astra#2 · Medium confidence85% win rate
  • GLM 4.5 Air#3 · High confidence74% win rate
Compare top performers

Single-shot · temp 0.7 · real votes · identical prompts·How we test →

The prompt

You are underwriting a 5-year LBO for a private equity investment committee. Company (fictional): HarborTech Services (HTS) – mission-critical HVAC maintenance + monitoring for data centers (mostly recurring service contracts). Use only the information below. Do NOT browse the web. This is a fictional exercise. ENTRY (close at end of FY2025) - FY2025 revenue: $900m - FY2025 EBITDA: $120m (13.3% margin) - Purchase price: 12.0x EBITDA - Transaction fees: 2.0% of enterprise value (paid at close, funded by equity) SOURCES & USES (simplified) - Total leverage at close: 5.5x EBITDA - Term Loan: 4.0x EBITDA, 9.0% cash interest, 1.0% annual amortization - Mezzanine: 1.5x EBITDA, 12.0% cash interest + 2.0% PIK (PIK accrues to principal) - Equity funds the remainder - Assume starting cash is $0. - Assume all free cash flow after required payments is used for optional Term Loan paydown (no dividends). OPERATING ASSUMPTIONS (FY2026–FY2030) Base case: - Revenue growth: 8%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 5% - EBITDA margin: 14.0%, 15.0%, 16.0%, 16.5%, 17.0% - Capex: 3.0% of revenue - Change in NWC: 0.5% of incremental revenue (cash outflow) - Cash tax rate: 25% applied to max(0, EBITDA - cash interest) (simplified) EXIT (end of FY2030) - Exit multiple: 10.5x FY2030 EBITDA - Exit fees: 1.0% of enterprise value - Mezzanine (including PIK) is repaid at exit. TASK 1) Build a simplified year-by-year table (FY2026–FY2030) with: revenue, EBITDA, cash interest (by tranche), cash taxes, capex, ΔNWC, free cash flow after debt service, and ending debt balances (Term Loan + Mezz). 2) Compute equity IRR and MOIC. 3) Provide a sensitivity table of equity IRR vs exit multiple (9.5x / 10.5x / 11.5x) and exit-year EBITDA margin (16% / 17% / 18%). 4) List 5 underwriting risks and 5 concrete downside protection levers. Keep it concise, but show the math clearly.

242 models tested
  • Aurora Alpha
  • Claude 3 Haiku
  • Claude 3.7 Sonnet
  • Claude 3.7 Thinking Sonnet
  • Claude Fable 5
  • Claude Haiku 4.5
  • Claude Haiku 5.5
  • Claude Opus 4
  • Claude Opus 4.1
  • Claude Opus 4.5
  • Claude Opus 4.6
  • Claude Opus 4.7
  • Claude Opus 4.8
  • Claude Opus 5
  • Claude Opus 5.5
  • Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22)
  • Claude Sonnet 4
  • Claude Sonnet 4.6
  • Claude Sonnet 5
  • Claude Sonnet 5.5
  • Command A+
  • DeepSeek R1 0528
  • DeepSeek V3 (March 2024)
  • DeepSeek V3.1
  • DeepSeek V3.2
  • DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
  • DeepSeek V3.2 Speciale
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813
  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
  • Dots3-Note Preview
  • Elephant Alpha
  • ERNIE 4.5 300B A47B
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Preview 09-2025
  • Gemini 2.5 Pro (I/O Edition)
  • Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 06-05
  • Gemini 3 Flash Preview
  • Gemini 3 Pro Preview
  • Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
  • Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview
  • Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
  • Gemini 3.5 Flash
  • Gemini 3.6 Flash
  • Gemini 3.7 Flash
  • Gemini 3.8 Flash
  • Gemini 4 Argon
  • Gemma 3 12B
  • Gemma 3 27B
  • Gemma 3n 4B
  • Gemma 4 26B A4B
  • Gemma 4 31B
  • GLM 4 32B
  • GLM 4.5
  • GLM 4.5 Air
  • GLM 4.6
  • GLM 4.7
  • GLM 4.7 Flash
  • GLM 5
  • GLM 5 Turbo
  • GLM 5.1
  • GLM 5.2
  • GLM 5.3
  • GLM 5.3 Flash
  • GLM 5.3 FlashX
  • GLM 5.3 Prime
  • GPT OSS 120B
  • GPT OSS 20B
  • GPT-3.5 Turbo
  • GPT-4
  • GPT-4 Turbo
  • GPT-4.1
  • GPT-4.1 Mini
  • GPT-4.1 Nano
  • GPT-4o (Omni)
  • GPT-4o mini
  • GPT-5
  • GPT-5 Mini
  • GPT-5 Nano
  • GPT-5 Pro
  • GPT-5.1
  • GPT-5.1 Chat
  • GPT-5.1 Codex Max
  • GPT-5.1-Codex
  • GPT-5.1-Codex-Mini
  • GPT-5.2
  • GPT-5.2 Chat
  • GPT-5.2 Pro
  • GPT-5.3 Chat
  • GPT-5.3-Codex
  • GPT-5.4
  • GPT-5.4 Mini
  • GPT-5.4 Nano
  • GPT-5.4 Pro
  • GPT-5.5
  • GPT-5.6 Luna
  • GPT-5.6 Luna Pro
  • GPT-5.6 Sol
  • GPT-5.6 Terra
  • GPT-6 Astra
  • GPT-6 Luna
  • GPT-6 Luna Pro
  • GPT-6 Sol
  • GPT-6 Sol Pro
  • GPT-6.1 Sol
  • Granite 4.2 8B
  • Grok 3
  • Grok 3 Beta
  • Grok 4
  • Grok 4.1 Fast
  • Grok 4.20 Beta
  • Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent Beta
  • Grok 4.3
  • Grok 4.5
  • Grok 4.6
  • Grok 4.7
  • Grok Code Fast 1
  • Healer Alpha
  • Hunter Alpha
  • Hy3
  • Hy4 Preview
  • Inkling
  • INTELLECT-3
  • Kimi K2
  • Kimi K2 0905
  • Kimi K2 Thinking
  • Kimi K2.5
  • Kimi K2.6
  • Kimi K2.7 Code
  • Kimi K3
  • Ling 2.6 1T
  • Ling 2.6 Flash
  • Ling 3.0 Flash
  • Ling 3.0 Flash Fin (free)
  • Ling 3.0 Flash Sante (free)
  • Ling 3.0 Flash VL (free)
  • Ling 3.1 Flash
  • Llama 3 70B
  • Llama 3.1 70B (Instruct)
  • Llama 4 Maverick
  • Llama 4 Scout
  • Mercury
  • Mercury 2
  • Mercury 2.5
  • Mercury 2.5 Preview
  • MiMo-V2-Flash
  • MiMo-V2-Omni
  • MiMo-V2-Pro
  • MiMo-V2.5
  • MiMo-V2.5-Pro
  • MiMo-V2.6-Flash
  • MiMo-V2.6-Pro
  • MiniMax M1
  • MiniMax M2-her
  • MiniMax M2.1
  • MiniMax M2.5
  • MiniMax M2.7
  • MiniMax M3
  • Mistral Devstral Medium
  • Mistral Devstral Small 1.1
  • Mistral Large
  • Mistral Large 3 2512
  • Mistral Large 4
  • Mistral Medium 3
  • Mistral Medium 3.1
  • Mistral Nemo
  • Mistral Small 4
  • Mistral Small Creative
  • Muse Glimmer 30B
  • Muse Spark 1.1
  • Muse Spark 1.3
  • Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor
  • Muse Wonder
  • Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)
  • Nemotron 3 Ultra
  • Nemotron 3.5 Content Safety
  • Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
  • North Mini Code
  • Nova Premier 1.0
  • NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super (free)
  • NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2
  • o1
  • o3 Mini
  • OpenAI o3
  • OpenAI o4 Mini High
  • OpenAI o4-mini
  • OpenRouter Fusion · Budget (Jun 2026)
  • OpenRouter Fusion · Quality (Jun 2026)
  • Owl Alpha
  • Ox Alpha
  • Pony Alpha
  • Qwen Plus 0728
  • Qwen3 235B A22B
  • Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507
  • Qwen3 30B A3B
  • Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507
  • Qwen3 30B A3B Thinking 2507
  • Qwen3 Coder
  • Qwen3 Coder Flash
  • Qwen3 Coder Next
  • Qwen3 Coder Plus
  • Qwen3 Max
  • Qwen3 Max Thinking
  • Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct
  • Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking
  • Qwen3.5 122B A10B
  • Qwen3.5 27B
  • Qwen3.5 35B A3B
  • Qwen3.5 397B A17B
  • Qwen3.5 9B
  • Qwen3.5 Flash
  • Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15
  • Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20
  • Qwen3.6 27B
  • Qwen3.6 35B A3B
  • Qwen3.6 Flash
  • Qwen3.6 Max Preview
  • Qwen3.6 Plus Preview (free)
  • Qwen3.7 Flash
  • Qwen3.7 Max
  • Qwen3.7 Plus
  • Qwen3.8 2.4T A95B
  • Qwen3.8 27B
  • Qwen3.8 Flash
  • Qwen3.8 Max
  • Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
  • Qwen3.8 Max Prime
  • Qwen3.8 Omni Flash
  • Ring 2.6 1T
  • Riverflow V2 Fast
  • Seed 2.0 Code
  • Seed 2.0 Lite
  • Seed 2.1 Turbo
  • Solar Mini 4
  • Solar Pro 3
  • Solar Pro 4
  • Sonar Pro Search
  • Step 5 Preview
  • Ternary Bonsai 2 27B
  • TNG R1T Chimera

How the models did

242 found
The model returned empty.
aurora-alpha logo
Aurora Alpha
Feb 2026·Mini LBO UnderwriteEstimated generation cost ~$0.00◆Taste 43
The model returned empty.
claude-3-haiku logo
Claude 3 Haiku
Mar 2026·Mini LBO UnderwriteExact generation cost $0.0011◆Taste 10
The model returned empty.
claude-3.5-sonnet logo
Claude Sonnet 3.6 (2022-10-22)
Mar 2026·Mini LBO UnderwriteExact generation cost $0.034◆Taste 14
The model returned empty.
claude-3.7-sonnet-thinking logo
Claude 3.7 Thinking Sonnet
Mar 2026·Mini LBO UnderwriteExact generation cost $0.157◆Taste 41
The model returned empty.
claude-3.7-sonnet logo
Claude 3.7 Sonnet
Mar 2026·Mini LBO UnderwriteExact generation cost $0.023◆Taste 29
The model returned empty.
claude-fable-5 logo
Claude Fable 5
Jun 2026·Mini LBO UnderwriteExact generation cost $0.282◆Taste 60