1. Capital Structure in a Perfect Market
Chapter 14
Capital Structure in a Perfect Market

2. What is the capital structure question?
What considerations should guide firms when making financing decisions?
Example (from text):
Dan Harris, CFO of EBS, is reviewing plans for a major expansion. To pursue the expansion, EBS plans to raise $50 million from outside investors. One possibility is to raise the funds by selling shares of EBS stock. Due to the firm’s risk, Dan estimates that equity investors will require a 10% risk premium over the 5% risk-free interest rate. That is, the company’s equity cost of capital is 15%.

3. What is the capital structure question?
Example (continued):
Some senior executives at EBS, however, have argued that the firm should consider borrowing the $50 million instead. EBS has not borrowed previously and, given its strong balance sheet, it should be able to borrow at 6% interest rate. Does the low interest rate of debt make borrowing a better choice of financing for EBS? If EBS does borrow, will this choice affect the NPV of the expansion, and therefore change the value of the firm and its share price?

4. Financing a Firm with Equity
You are considering an investment opportunity.
For an initial investment of $800 this year, the project will generate cash flows of either $1400 or $900 next year, depending on whether the economy is strong or weak, respectively. Both scenarios are equally likely. The project cash flows depend on the overall economy and thus contain market risk. As a result, you demand a 10% risk premium over the current risk-free interest rate of 5% to invest in this project.
What is the NPV of this investment opportunity?
If you finance this project using only equity, how much would you receive for the project?

5. Financing a Firm with Equity (cont'd)
Unlevered Equity
Equity in a firm with no debt
Because there is no debt, the cash flows of the unlevered equity are equal to those of the project.

6. Financing a Firm with Debt and Equity
Suppose you decide to borrow $500 initially, in addition to selling equity.
Because the project’s cash flow will always be enough to repay the debt, the debt is risk free and you can borrow at the risk-free interest rate of 5%. You will owe the debt holders:
$500 × 1.05 = $525 in one year.
Levered Equity
Equity in a firm that also has debt outstanding

7. The capital structure question: Is E><500?

8. Financing a Firm with Debt and Equity (cont'd)
Modigliani and Miller argued that with perfect capital markets, the total value of a firm should not depend on its capital structure.
Because the cash flows of the debt and equity sum to the cash flows of the project, by the Law of One Price the combined values of debt and equity must be $1000.
Therefore, if the value of the debt is $500, the value of the levered equity must be $500.
E = $1000 – $500 = $500.

9. The Effect of Leverage on Risk and Return
Leverage increases the risk of the equity of a firm.
Therefore, it is inappropriate to discount the cash flows of levered equity at the same discount rate of 15% that you used for unlevered equity. Investors in levered equity will require a higher expected return to compensate for the increased risk.

10. Table 14.4

11. Table 14.5

12. The Effect of Leverage on Risk and Return (cont'd)
In summary:
Leverage increases the risk of equity even when there is no risk that the firm will default.
Thus, while debt may be cheaper, its use raises the cost of capital for equity. Considering both sources of capital together, the firm’s average cost of capital with leverage is the same as for the unlevered firm.

13. Chapter 14: problem 1
Consider a project with free cash flows in one year of $130,000 or $180,000, with each outcome being equally likely. The initial investment required for the project is $100,000, and the project’s cost of capital is 20%. The risk-free interest rate is 10%.
What is the NPV of this project?
Suppose that to raise the funds for the initial investment, the project is sold to investors as an all-equity firm. The equity holders will receive the cash flows of the project in on year. How much money can be raised in this way – that is, what is the initial market value of the unlevered equity?
Suppose the initial $100,000 is instead raised by borrowing at the risk-free interest rate. What are the cash flows of the levered equity, and what is its initial value according to MM?

14. 14.2 Modigliani-Miller I: Leverage, Arbitrage, and Firm Value (cont'd)
Modigliani and Miller (MM) showed that this result holds more generally under a set of conditions referred to as perfect capital markets:
Investors and firms can trade the same set of securities at competitive market prices equal to the present value of their future cash flows.
There are no taxes, transaction costs, or issuance costs associated with security trading.
A firm’s financing decisions do not change the cash flows generated by its investments, nor do they reveal new information about them.

15. 14.2 Modigliani-Miller I: Leverage, Arbitrage, and Firm Value (cont'd)
MM Proposition I:
In a perfect capital market, the total value of a firm is equal to the market value of the total cash flows generated by its assets and is not affected by its choice of capital structure.

16. Homemade Leverage Homemade Leverage
When investors use leverage in their own portfolios to adjust the leverage choice made by the firm.
MM demonstrated that if investors would prefer an alternative capital structure to the one the firm has chosen, investors can borrow or lend on their own and achieve the same result.

17. Homemade Leverage (cont'd)
Assume you use no leverage and create an all- equity firm.
An investor who would prefer to hold levered equity can do so by using leverage in his own portfolio.

18. Homemade Leverage (cont'd)
Now assume you use debt, but the investor would prefer to hold unlevered equity. The investor can re-create the payoffs of unlevered equity by buying both the debt and the equity of the firm. Combining the cash flows of the two securities produces cash flows identical to unlevered equity, for a total cost of $1000.

19. Homemade Leverage (cont'd)
In each case, your choice of capital structure does not affect the opportunities available to investors.
Investors can alter the leverage choice of the firm to suit their personal tastes either by adding more leverage or by reducing leverage.
With perfect capital markets, different choices of capital structure offer no benefit to investors and does not affect the value of the firm.

20. Chapter 14: problem 6
Suppose Alpha Industries and Omega Technology have identical assets that generate identical cash flows. Alpha Industries is an all-equity firm, with 10 million shares outstanding that trade for a price of $22 per share. Omega Technology has 20 million shares outstanding as well as debt of $60 million.
According to MM proposition 1, what is the stock price for Omega Technology?
Suppose Omega Technology stock currently trades for $11. What arbitrage opportunity is available? What assumptions are necessary to exploit this opportunity?

21. The Market Value Balance Sheet
A balance sheet where:
All assets and liabilities of the firm are included (even intangible assets such as reputation, brand name, or human capital that are missing from a standard accounting balance sheet).
All values are current market values rather than historical costs.
The total value of all securities issued by the firm must equal the total value of the firm’s assets.

22. Table 14.8

23. The Market Value Balance Sheet (cont'd)
Using the market value balance sheet, the value of equity is computed as:

24. Example 14.3

25. Application: A Leveraged Recapitalization
When a firm uses borrowed funds to pay a large special dividend or repurchase a significant amount of outstanding shares
Example:
Harrison Industries is currently an all-equity firm operating in a perfect capital market, with 50 million shares outstanding that are trading for $4 per share.
Harrison plans to increase its leverage by borrowing $80 million and using the funds to repurchase 20 million of its outstanding shares.

26. Table 14.9

27. 14.3 Modigliani-Miller II: Leverage, Risk, and the Cost of Capital
Leverage and the Equity Cost of Capital E
Market value of equity in a levered firm. D
Market value of debt in a levered firm. U
Market value of equity in an unlevered firm. A
Market value of the firm’s assets.

28. 14.3 Modigliani-Miller II: Leverage, Risk, and the Cost of Capital (cont'd)
Leverage and the Equity Cost of Capital
The return on unlevered equity (RU) is related to the returns of levered equity (RE) and debt (RD):

29. 14.3 Modigliani-Miller II: Leverage, Risk, and the Cost of Capital (cont'd)
Leverage and the Equity Cost of Capital
Solving for RE:
The levered equity return equals the unlevered return, plus a premium due to leverage.
The amount of the premium depends on the amount of leverage, measured by the firm’s market value debt-equity ratio, D/E.

30. 14.3 Modigliani-Miller II: Leverage, Risk, and the Cost of Capital (cont'd)
Leverage and the Equity Cost of Capital
MM Proposition II:
The cost of capital of levered equity is equal to the cost of capital of unlevered equity plus a premium that is proportional to the market value debt-equity ratio.
Cost of Capital of Levered Equity

31. 14.3 Modigliani-Miller II: Leverage, Risk, and the Cost of Capital (cont'd)
Leverage and the Equity Cost of Capital
Recall from above:
If the firm is all-equity financed, the expected return on unlevered equity is 15%.
If the firm is financed with $500 of debt, the expected return of the debt is 5%.

32. Example 14.4

33. Capital Budgeting and the Weighted Average Cost of Capital
If a firm is unlevered, all of the free cash flows generated by its assets are paid out to its equity holders.
The market value, risk, and cost of capital for the firm’s assets and its equity coincide and, therefore:

34. Capital Budgeting and the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (cont'd)
If a firm is levered, project rA is equal to the firm’s weighted average cost of capital.
Weighted Average Cost of Capital (No Taxes)

35. Figure 14.1 WACC and Leverage with Perfect Capital Markets

36. Chapter 14: Problem 12
Hardmon Enterprises is currently an all-equity firm with an expected return of 12%. It is considering a leveraged recapitalization in which it would borrow and repurchase existing shares.
Suppose Hardmon borrows to the point that its debt-equity ratio is With this amount of debt, the debt cost of capital is 6%. What will the expected return of equity be after this transaction?
Suppose instead Hardmon borrows to the point that its debt-equity ratio is With this amount of debt, Hardmon’s debt will be much riskier. As a result, the debt cost of capital will be 8%. What will the expected return of equity be in this case?
A senior manager argues that it is in the best interest of the shareholders to choose the capital structure that leads to the highest expected return for the stock. How would you respond to this argument?

37. Problem
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) has a market debt- equity ratio of 0.5.
Assume its current debt cost of capital is 6.5%, and its equity cost of capital is 14%.
If HON issues equity and uses the proceeds to repay its debt and reduce its debt-equity ratio to 0.4, it will lower its debt cost of capital to 5.75%.
With perfect capital markets, what effect will this transaction have on HON’s equity cost of capital and WACC? 37

38. Computing the WACC with Multiple Securities
If the firm’s capital structure is made up of multiple securities, then the WACC is calculated by computing the weighted average cost of capital of all of the firm’s securities.
Example: Suppose out entrepreneur decides to sell the firm by splitting it into three securities. Equity=440m, Debt=500m, and Warrents=60m. The warrants will pay $20 when the firm’s cash flows are high and nothing when the cash flows are low. What is the WACC?

39. Levered and Unlevered Betas
The effect of leverage on the risk of a firm’s securities can also be expressed in terms of beta:

40. Alternative Example 14.7 Problem
Estimates of equity betas and market debt-equity ratios for several stocks are shown below:
Calculate the unlevered beta for each of the firms?
Name
Equity Beta
Debt-Equity Ratio
Debt Beta
Kraft Foods Inc.
0.71
0.35
0.10
H.J. Heinz Co.
0.63
2.23
0.27
Lancaster Colony
0.87
0.00 40

41. Cash and Net Debt
Holding cash has the opposite effect of leverage on risk and return and can be viewed as equivalent to negative debt.

42. Example

43. 14.4 Capital Structure Fallacies
Leverage and Earnings per Share
Leverage can increase a firm’s expected earnings per share. This is sometimes used (incorrectly) as an argument that leverage should also increase the firm’s stock price.

44. 14.4 Capital Structure Fallacies (cont'd)
Leverage and Earnings per Share
Example:
LVI is currently an all-equity firm. It expects to generate earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $10 million over the next year. Currently, LVI has 10 million shares outstanding, and its stock is trading for a price of $7.50 per share. LVI is considering changing its capital structure by borrowing $15 million at an interest rate of 8% and using the proceeds to repurchase 2 million shares at $7.50 per share.

45. 14.4 Capital Structure Fallacies (cont'd)
Leverage and Earnings per Share
Example:
Are shareholders better off?
NO! Although LVI’s expected EPS rises with leverage, the risk of its EPS also increases. While EPS increases on average, this increase is necessary to compensate shareholders for the additional risk they are taking, so LVI’s share price does not increase as a result of the transaction.

46. Figure 14.2 LVI Earnings per Share with and without Leverage

47. Example 14.9

48. Equity Issuances and Dilution
An increase in the total of shares that will divide a fixed amount of earnings
It is sometimes (incorrectly) argued that issuing equity will dilute existing shareholders’ ownership, so debt financing should be used instead

49. Equity Issuances and Dilution (cont'd)
Suppose Jet Sky Airlines (JSA) currently has no debt and 500 million shares of stock outstanding, currently trading at a price of $16  market value of $8 billion.
Last month the firm announced that it would expand and the expansion will require the purchase of $1 billion of new planes, which will be financed by issuing new equity.
Suppose JSA sells 62.5 million new shares at the current price of $16 per share to raise the additional $1 billion needed to purchase the planes.

50. Equity Issuances and Dilution (cont'd)

51. 14.5 MM: Beyond the Propositions
Conservation of Value Principle for Financial Markets
With perfect capital markets, financial transactions neither add nor destroy value, but instead represent a repackaging of risk (and therefore return).
This implies that any financial transaction that appears to be a good deal may be exploiting some type of market imperfection.