Project hierarchy

The whole LBO drawn — the companies and the ownership between them. The one view that explains how indirect exposure works in a management package.

Overview

Hierarchy is a project-level view: the group, drawn. The companies in the project and the ownership relationships between them.

On a build-up that means the BidCo, the ManCos above or beside it, and each add-on as it arrives — with the holdings that connect them. You do not draw it. It is derived from the companies and their recorded holdings.

What you'll learn

What the hierarchy shows, and where it comes from
The question it answers that no cap table can
Why its export is the most externally useful in the platform
When to reach for it

Reading it in detail — what each node carries, look-through, the drawer, search and filters — is A3.7.

Why it earns its own view

A cap table answers ownership within one company. The hierarchy answers ownership between companies — and on a management-package structure, that is the question people actually have.

The BidCo's cap table lists the ManCos as holders. A ManCo's cap table lists participants. Neither shows you the shape: that participants hold in ManCos, which hold in the BidCo, so a participant's exposure to the platform company is indirect.

The hierarchy shows exactly that, in one picture. Which is why it is usually the first thing someone outside the deal team asks for.

It is not only a shape. Each node carries what the entity holds, the categories it belongs to, and a coloured bar where a KYC is outstanding — so the same view answers how is this structured and what needs attention in it. A3.7 covers reading all of that.

Export it

The hierarchy has its own Export control, and it is the most externally useful export the platform offers.

For an adviser or lender — a structure chart is the standard first request.
For an investment committee paper — one diagram replaces a paragraph nobody reads.
For an incoming investor — it answers "what am I buying into" faster than a cap table does.

As with any export, date it. It is a snapshot, and a build-up's structure changes with every add-on.

When to look at it

Orienting on an unfamiliar project — the fastest way to understand a structure you have not worked on.
Before adding a company — to see where the new entity belongs.
After a wave closes — to confirm the structure changed the way you expected.
When someone asks how the management package works — this is the picture that explains it.

Common problems

The hierarchy looks incomplete. It reflects recorded holdings. If a company's ownership has not been recorded — no transactions, no past events — there is nothing to draw a line from.

A company appears unconnected. It exists in the project but holds nothing and is held by nothing. Either its ownership has not been recorded, or it genuinely stands alone.

It does not match what you expected after finishing a subscription process. That step is asynchronous. Give it time, then look again.

Someone wants a structure chart and you are about to build one in slides. Export this instead.

A3.7 — Reading the hierarchy · nodes, look-through, the drawer, search and filters
A1.3 — One project = one LBO · why the whole structure belongs in one project
A5.1 — Reading the cap table · ownership within a single company
A5.5 — Exporting the cap table and registry · the other two exports