Private Equity

How do I structure the acquisition of a company in a way that satisfies both the lender and the seller?

I found a company whose owner is willing to sell for 4X EBITDA. He is planning to retire in a few years. I also found a lender willing to lend 4X EBITDA. So you’d think that’s that. However, the lender then said his organization has a rule against financing 100% of the purchase price. It wants a 25% equity component. So I determined the seller was willing to reinvest 25% of the purchase price to have a 25% stake in the new entity I will create to buy the assets of his company. So that would seem to address the lender’s concerns. However, there are still two issues: 1) I am afraid the lender will not like the fact that the equity is coming entirely from the seller; and 2) If the seller finds out that he’s putting up all of the equity, he will demand all of the profits instead of just 25%. An obvious solution would be for me to put up all of the equity (instead of getting it from the seller) but I don’t have enough cash to even come close to 25%. Mathematically, this deal is very doable since I can get enough debt (from the lender) and equity (from the seller) to put it together. The problem is how do I structure it so neither the seller nor the lender objects? There has got to be a creative way to satisfy the needs of all three parties.