Mūlārtha (मूलार्थ) means the root of value. This publication is about first principles for restructuring and credit.
The real problem is rarely the one you’re presented with. Most restructuring begins with an incomplete diagnosis. The board pack names one cause; the lender’s files name another; the real cause usually sits somewhere the first pass didn’t reach.
Finding it takes reconstruction. The work benchmarks the operating numbers against the sector, follows the audit trail to where it stops adding up, and treats the human behaviour around the balance sheet as evidence in its own right. A solution chosen before that work rarely holds. When the right one comes, it is built with the people already leading the company, not around them.
Mūlārtha is one argument in three movements: why the real cause of distress stays hidden, how the response saves or wastes value, and how early-warning data and AI decide whether a lender catches trouble in time.
Four ideas run through it:
The visible problem is rarely the whole of it.
The knowledge and commitment already inside the company are its most under-utilised assets in a restructuring.
The fight costs more value than the distress.
Data and AI are reshaping distressed credit, and the field is still learning how.
The author writes it, after three decades across five seats: operator, capital-markets principal, lender, restructurer, and board member. Close to US$7Bn in transactions evaluated; over US$4Bn of distressed debt resolved. The cases stay private. The thinking doesn’t.
Written for the board and whoever owns or runs a company in distress, in transition, or under creditor pressure. And for the funds, lenders, and advisers who work beside them.
A new essay every few weeks; each finished movement becomes a white paper. Subscribe to read them as they land.
Disclosure and independence: The author holds board and advisory roles across fintech, RegTech, AI, and alternate-asset firms. The writing covers problems and categories, not products, and endorses no firm, including those he is tied to.
This publication is commentary and general information, not financial, legal, or investment advice. Decisions about a specific situation should be taken with advisers who know its particulars.
