What does recapitalizing mean?
Recapitalizing is the present participle of recapitalize, meaning to give a company or organization new financial resources or to revise the way its capital is organized. It is especially common in discussions of corporate finance, lending, insolvency, and restructuring, where a business may be recapitalized by issuing shares, changing debt terms, or replacing an existing financing arrangement. The term can also refer to changing the capitalization of text a second time, though this use is relatively uncommon and appears mainly in editorial or typographic contexts. Recapitalizing emphasizes repetition or revision: it describes a fresh adjustment to capital that has already been arranged, rather than the initial process of supplying capital. In business writing, the word is formal and technical, and it usually appears with companies, businesses, debts, or balance sheets.
verbTo provide a company or organization with new capital, or to alter its capital structure. It can also mean changing the capitalization of text again.
- To provide a company or organization with new capital or revise its existing capital structure.
- To change the capitalization of text again.
"The shareholders approved the plan to recapitalizing the company by issuing additional shares."
"The bank recapitalized the struggling borrower by restructuring its loan."
"The editor is recapitalizing the headline to match the publication's style."
A company can be recapitalized without changing what it sells: the transformation is in its financial structure, not its identity.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does recapitalizing come from?
The word is formed from the prefix re-, meaning “again,” and capitalize, meaning to provide with capital or to render in capital letters. Capitalize ultimately derives from Latin capitālis, meaning “of the head” or “principal,” from caput, meaning “head.” The same Latin root underlies capitalist, capitalism, and capitulation.
Related word forms
How recapitalizing is actually used
The financial sense is chiefly used in business, finance, and corporate law. In typography and editing, the word is less common and usually means applying capital letters again after an earlier change.
Easily confused with recapitalizing
Capitalize means to convert assets into usable money or to write a word with an initial capital letter, whereas recapitalize specifically means doing the financial or capitalization process again.