It is the release of a debtor from the primary obligation for a debt. A legal defeasance could take place in absolute terms, i.e., the debt could cease to exist for anyone (by being forgiven or set aside), or the creditor could formally recognize that another party has taken over the primary obligation for the debt.

It measures the percentage of capital employed that is financed by debt and long term financing. The higher the gearing, the higher the dependence on borrowing and long term financing. Whereas, the lower the gearing ratio, the higher the dependence on equity financing. Traditionally, the higher the level of gearing, the higher the level of financial risk due to the increased volatility of profits. Financial manager face a difficult dilemma. Most businesses require long term debt in order to finance growth, as equity financing is rarely sufficient, on the other hand, the introduction of debt and gearing increases financial risk. A high gearing ratio is positive; a large amount of debt will give higher return on capital employed but the company dependent on equity financing alone is unable to sustain growth. Gearing can be quite high for small businesses trying to become established, but in general they should not be higher than 50%. Shareholders benefit from gearing to the extent that return on the borrowed money exceeds the interest cost so that the market value of their shares rise.

It is a transaction used for taking a public corporation private, financed through the use of debt funds: bank loans and bonds. Because of the large amount of debt relative to equity in the new corporation, the bonds are typically rated below investment grade, properly referred to as high-yield bonds or junk bonds. Investors can participate in an LBO through either the purchase of the debt (i.e., purchase of the bonds or participation in the bank loan) or the purchase of equity through an LBO fund that specializes in such investments.

It is a form of borrowing in which the obligation is not recorded on the borrower's financial statements. Off-balance sheet financing can employ several different techniques, which include development arrangements, leasing, product financing arrangements or recourse sales of receivables. Off-balance sheet financing will raise concerns regarding the lenders' overall risk, but it improves their debt to equity ratio, which enhances their borrowing capacity. As a result, loans are often easy to arrange and are given lower interest rates because of the improved debt structure on the balance sheet. Off-balance sheet financing is a technique often used by multinational businesses in order to secure additional loans on the worldwide loan market.

It is dependent upon how you use the term. The term recapitalization in itself is, dependent upon the scenario, simply an adjustment of the relationships between the debt and equity that funds a firms assets. However, it can become quite complex dependent upon under what conditions or reasons the firm is being recapitalized. This is specially true if recapitalization is being pursued to ward off a hostile takeover.