Q. What do promising companies do when they have already exhausted standard bank finance and are already listed on the exchange, but still have some inadequacy of finance to fund their expansion or attractive acquisition venture in a very short period of time ? Ans: Such companies need some quick money to adjust their cash flows and fill that important gap to pursue their growth strategies and goals. At such times, mezzanine finance comes in as a handy option. Let's take a look at this increasingly useful finance option, study its structure and understand its features from the lender's as well as the borrower's perspective. Mezzanine finance has the characteristics of both debt and equity capital and is essentially a mix of both. This type of financing is usually availed by companies which have either expansion or restructuring plans and acquisition goals. It can be in the form of subordinated debt which is referred to as mezzanine debt or in the form of equity preferred