It stands for reverse leveraged buyout; a leveraged buyout (LBO) that involves conducting an initial public offering (IPO) for a company that was previously taken private through a leveraged buyout transaction. In other words, it is the conversion of a privately-held company (already privatized by means of a leveraged buyout) into a publicly-held company by offering its shares in the primary market (on public capital markets). The transformation will take place by reversing the initial leveraged buyout during whose phase a company is operative and have created operating efficiencies that warrant such an action.

A privatized company will resort to a reverse-leveraged buyout IPO if it is currently unable to settle its debt incurred in a previous leveraged buyout (LBO) or associated with operational activities. By going public, a company can obtain cash for retirement of its debt, partially or in whole.