Question

A firm wants to create a WACC of 11.2 percent. The firm's cost of equity is 16.8 percent and its pretax cost of debt is 8.7 percent. The tax rate is 35 percent. What does the debt-equity ratio need to be for the firm to achieve its target WACC?
A) 0.67B) 1.01C) 0.94D) 0.86E) 1.04

Answer 1

Answer:

Debt equity ratio = 1.01

Explanation:

given data

WACC = 11.2 percent

cost of equity = 16.8 percent

pretax cost of debt = 8.7 percent

tax rate = 35 percent

to find out

What does the debt-equity ratio need to be for the firm to achieve its target WACC

solution

we get here WACC that is express as

WACC = Wd × Rd × (1-t) + We × Ke      ..................1

here Wd is weight of debit and t is tax rate and Ke is cost of equity and

Wd + We = 1

so We = 1 - Wd

put value in equation 1

WACC = Wd × Rd × (1-t) + We × Ke

11.20% = Wd × 8.70%  ×(1-35%) + (1-Wd) × 16.80%

solve and we get

Wd = 0.5025

so We will be

We = 1 - 0.5025

We = 0.4975

and

Debt equity ratio will be

Debt equity ratio = $\frac{0.5025}{0.4975}$

Debt equity ratio = 1.01