A private-equity fund, ABC Capital II, borrows $9bn from a bank (or other lender). To this, it adds $2bn of "equity" – money from its own partners and from "limited partners". With this $11bn it buys all the shares of an underperforming company, XYZ Industrial (after "due diligence", i.e. checking the books). It replaces the senior management in XYZ Industrial, and they set out to streamline it. The workforce is reduced, some assets are sold off, etc. The objective is to increase the value of the company for an early sale.