Few would turn down an opportunity to look more impressive, especially if that could be achieved without making any genuine changes. For the private equity industry, such an opportunity has presented itself in the form of a novel new use of debt.

While buyout firms are well known for using debt to acquire companies, they are increasingly drawing on their overdrafts to bump up a performance metric. Previously, firms used these credit facilities simply to help in situations such as where they wanted to complete a deal during a holiday period without having to tap investors for capital. Now they are drawing on them more often and for longer periods during an investment.