Leveraged lending is a type of corporate finance used for mergers and acquisitions, business recapitalization and refinancing, equity buyouts, and business or product line build-outs and expansions. It is used to increase shareholder returns and to monetize perceived "enterprise value" or other intangibles. In this type of transaction, debt is commonly used as an alternative to equity when financing business expansions and acquisitions. It can serve to support business growth and increase returns to investors by financing business operations that generate incremental profits against a fixed equity investment. While it is more prevalent in certain industries and with larger companies, banks provide leveraged financing to a variety of borrowers for a variety of reasons.