Plain-language articles on how private deals work, how to read them, and what to check before deploying capital. At least three every week.
The opportunity zone program becomes permanent with rolling ten-year maps and new tax rules from January 1, 2027. A look at what is reported, what is unconfirmed, and how it changes the way real estat…
A cross-issue count of the 93 deals set aside before scoring across seven issues: fully subscribed offerings, listings that fail the owner test, unchanged repeats and unverifiable operators, and what …
A plain-language primer on private credit for new investors: how a lender's payoff differs from an owner's, what seniority and collateral mean, how to turn a coupon into a net return, and how to read …
The SBA's updated 7(a) rules for buying an existing business began applying on October 1, 2026. A look at what is reported, what is disputed, and how it changes the way small business listings read.
A cross-issue look at private credit borrowers that returned for more than one scored note: how often the score moved, which direction, and what a reader should check when a familiar borrower comes ba…
A plain-language look at minimum investment size in private offerings: how a large minimum concentrates risk, why it works as a hard line and not a point deduction, and how to read a missing or placeh…
Semi-liquid private credit funds have limited withdrawals for several quarters. A look at what is confirmed, what is not, and how the stress differs for investors holding individual notes with fixed t…
A cross-deal look at nine issues of published pillar scores: which part of a deal's score separates the tiers, why strong sponsors do not rescue thin filings, and what the near-misses have in common.
A plain-language primer on real estate syndications: who the sponsor and limited partners are, how the capital stack and leverage work, how fees and the waterfall pay out, and what to check first.
Commercial real estate lending is restructuring, with banks increasingly funding private credit platforms rather than lending directly. What this changes for how to read a real estate deal's capital s…
Real estate clears this publication's scoring line at 11.5%, behind every asset class but one. A breakdown of 286 scored deals shows the real driver is sourcing channel, not the asset class itself.
The Docket's three-pillar scoring weights Market Conditions at 25 points, the lowest of the three. Here's the reasoning behind that weighting and what it changes about how to read a score.
The Federal Reserve raised rates a quarter point on September 16, 2026, its first hike since 2023. What this changes for SBA-financed SMB acquisitions, private credit coupon premiums, and leveraged re…
Across four issues, The Docket has tracked sponsors filing multiple identical Form D vehicles the same day. What separates a parallel-fund structure from a fully-subscribed filing pattern, and how eac…
What Seller's Discretionary Earnings measures, why acquisition multiples are priced against it instead of revenue or net profit, and how to read the gap when a listing discloses SDE, EBITDA, or both.
Up to six million small businesses could change ownership by 2035 as baby boomer owners retire. How this demographic wave should change how buyers read a "retirement" listing.
A data-backed look at how often SMB acquisition listings disclose SDE, EBITDA, or both, and what it means when a seller shows one number and withholds the other.
How The Docket verifies a sponsor, borrower, or seller's track record before naming them, and why two independent sources is the line between a real signal and a self-reported claim.
What H.R. 3383, the INVEST Act, would change about who qualifies as an accredited investor, what's already confirmed, and what's still pending in the Senate.
A cross-deal look at why some confidential, no-principal-named SMB listings clear The Docket's scoring line while others don't, and what separates the two.
A plain-language orientation to SMB Acquisition, the small business buyout category, and why it demands a different kind of diligence than a passive fund or syndication position.
New SBA underwriting rules take effect October 1. What tighter debt-service and equity requirements mean for financing a business acquisition.
Across 236 scored deals, EDGAR filings clear at a fraction the rate of this publication's other sourcing channels. The pattern behind the gap.
A promote or fee left unstated can swing an investor's take by thousands, even when every other term in the listing is identical. The math, worked through.
A 2025 executive order and a March 2026 DOL proposal are reshaping 401(k) menus. Here's exactly what that does, and doesn't, change for individual accredited investors.
Every Percent private credit note that cleared this publication's bar disclosed the same thing. Every one that didn't, mostly, hadn't. Here's the pattern, deal by deal.
Private capital runs on disclosure, not price discovery. Here's the structural difference that changes how any private deal should actually be evaluated.
We scored a private credit note 79/100 in May. Two months of the borrower's own data later, here's what held — and what it doesn't prove.
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