Question

"In the Modigliani Miller perfect world with no taxes, if we assume that the effect of adding debt to firm's capital structure is exactly balanced by an increase in the cost of equity as more debt is added, what is the effect of increased debt usage on the weighted average cost of capital (WACC)

Answer 1

Answer: WACC remains constant as leverage increases.

Explanation:

Here is the complete question:

In the Modigliani Miller perfect world with no taxes, if we assume that the effect of adding debt to firm's capital structure is exactly balanced by an increase in the cost of equity as more debt is added, what is the effect of increased debt usage on the weighted average cost of capital (WACC)?

a. WACC first increases, then decreases as leverage increases.

b. WACC remains constant as leverage increases.

c. WACC increases continuously as leverage increases.

d. WACC decreases continually as leverage increases.

In the Modigliani Miller perfect world with no taxes, the capital structure is not relevant as the way a company finances it operations does not really matter.

For the capital markets, they will be perfectly competitive and there will be no taxes, bankruptcy costs or transactions cost and investors all have the same expectations. The weighted average cost if capital will be thesame even though leverage increases.