Loan notes representing that element of the purchase price to be paid for a target company or business which a vendor agrees to defer, for example an earn-out. In a buyout the vendor loan notes may be subordinated to the finance provided by the acquisition financiers, although this depends on why payment of part of the purchase price has been deferred. They will have similar terms to equity investor loans but are usually priced to give a lower rate of return and are often redeemable prior to the equity investor loans.