Answer:
a. What is the market value of the firm?
b. Now assume the firm issues $50,000 of debt paying interest of 6% per year, using the proceeds to retire equity. The debt is expected to be permanent. What will happen to the total value of the firm (debt plus equity)?
c. Recompute your answer to (b) under the following assumptions: The debt issue raises the probability of bankruptcy. The firm has a 30% chance of going bankrupt after 3 years. If it does go bankrupt, it will incur bankruptcy costs of $200,000. The discount rate is 10%. Should the firm issue the debt?
- The firm should not issue the debt because the risk of bankruptcy eliminates any possible gains obtained from issuing debt. It actually decreases the value of equity.
Explanation:
the firm's current value = [EBIT x (1 - tax rate)] / WACC = [$25,000 x 0.65] / 10% = $162,500
firm's new WACC = ($112,500/$162,500 x 10%) + ($50,000/$162,500 x 6% x 0.65) = 6.92% + 1.2% = 8.12%
the firm's new value = [$25,000 x 0.65] / 8.12% = $200,123
expected cost of bankruptcy = (30% x $200,000) / 1.1³ = $45,079
firm's total value is still $200,123, but the stockholders' equity has been reduced from ($200,123 - $50,000 = $150,123) to $150,123 - $45,079 = $105,044
the gain from issuing debt will be eliminated due to the risk of bankruptcy, before equity had risen from $112,500 to $150,123, but now it decreases to $105,044.