Firm Value And The Debt Equity Choice

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1, University of Applied Sciences Kempten (University of Ulster), language: English, abstract: In accordance with the Signalling model by Ross (1977) an increase in gearing represents, in term of a company’s prospective cash flows, a positive signal to external investors. Because, due to the higher risk of financial distress, companies with less optimistic market prospective tend to avoid additional financial obligations. This implies that an increasing indebtedness means a higher quality of business and therefore better valuation. This leads, in turn, to the assumption that the corporate management can influence a firm’s value by changing its capital structure. If capital structure can affect value, how can firms identify an optimal capital structure and what will it look like? It is that mix of debt and equity that maximises the value of a firm and, at the same time, minimise overall cost of capital. In their seminal article, published in 1958 and 1963, Modigliani and Miller argue that under certain assumptions the value of a firm i s independent of its capital structure, but with tax-deductible interest payments, they are positively related. Moreover, there are other approaches with partly contradictory perceptions. For instance, Myers (1998, cited in Fairchild 2003, p.6) argues that there is no universal optimal mix of debt and equity; in fact it depends on firms or industries, and therefore should be considered on a case-by-case basis. Other researchers have added market imperfections, such as bankruptcy costs, agency costs, and gains from leverage- induced tax shields to the analysis and have maintained that an optimal capital structure may exist (Hatfieldet al.1994, p.1). First, this paper shows the basic determinants of a firm’s value in association with the impact of financial leverage on payoffs to stockholders. Secondly, it considers some arguments of capital structure theories, particularly the Modigliani and Miller theorem and the Traditional approach and contrasts them. Finally, the underlying factors of the model assumptions are examined and shown that they are important in the choice of a firm’s debt-equity ratio.

The research reported in this volume represents the second stage of a wide-ranging National Bureau of Economic Research effort to investigate "The Changing Role of Debt and Equity in Financing U.S. Capital Formation." The first group of studies sponsored under this project, which have been published individually and summarized in a 1982 volume bearing the same title (Friedman 1982), addressed several key issues relevant to corporate sector behavior along with such other aspects of the evolving financial underpinnings of U.S. capital formation as household saving incentives, international capital flows, and government debt management. In the project's second series of studies, presented at the National Bureau of Economic Research conference in January 1983 and published here for the first time along with commentaries from that conference, the central focus is the financial side of capital formation undertaken by the U.S. corporate business sector. At the same time, because corporations' securities must be held, a parallel focus is on the behavior of the markets that price these claims.

A comprehensive guide to making better capital structure and corporate financing decisions in today's dynamic business environment Given the dramatic changes that have recently occurred in the economy, the topic of capital structure and corporate financing decisions is critically important. The fact is that firms need to constantly revisit their portfolio of debt, equity, and hybrid securities to finance assets, operations, and future growth. Capital Structure and Corporate Financing Decisions provides an in-depth examination of critical capital structure topics, including discussions of basic capital structure components, key theories and practices, and practical application in an increasingly complex corporate world. Throughout, the book emphasizes how a sound capital structure simultaneously minimizes the firm's cost of capital and maximizes the value to shareholders. Offers a strategic focus that allows you to understand how financing decisions relates to a firm's overall corporate policy Consists of contributed chapters from both academics and experienced professionals, offering a variety of perspectives and a rich interplay of ideas Contains information from survey research describing actual financial practices of firms This valuable resource takes a practical approach to capital structure by discussing why various theories make sense and how firms use them to solve problems and create wealth. In the wake of the recent financial crisis, the insights found here are essential to excelling in today's volatile business environment.

This paper offers an instructional exercise to help the debt-equity decision-making process when there are wealth transfers between equity and debt owners caused by a levered firm undertaking multiple debt-equity increments. By incorporating the agency impact of wealth transfers, this paper extends the teaching applications of Hull [2008, 2011]. This paper's exercise applies both standard gain to leverage (GL) equations and recent GL equations including one showing the impact of a wealth transfer effect on the debt-equity choice. The recent GL equations are from the Hull [2012] Capital Structure Model (CSM). Given estimates for tax rates, discount rates (costs of borrowing), and growth rates, these equations offer potential to guide managers on how to choose an optimal debt level. This paper's exercise is unique in teaching students the impact of wealth transfers when making debt-equity decisions to optimize firm value.

This paper presents a continuous time model of a firm that can dynamically adjust both its capital structure and its investment choices. The model extends the dynamic capital structure literature by endogenizing the investment choice as well as firm value, which are both determined by an exogenous price process that describes the firm's product market. Within the context of this model we explore interactions between financial distress costs and debtholder/equityholder agency problems and examine how the ability to dynamically adjust the capital structure choice affects both target debt ratios and the extent to which actual debt ratios deviate from their targets. In particular, we examine how financial distress and the firm's objectives, i.e., whether it makes choices to maximize total firm value versus equity value, influence the extent to which firms make financing choices that move them towards their target debt ratios.

This paper offers an instructional class exercise of the capital structure decision-making process. The exercise applies four gain to leverage (GL) equations including a recent GL equation that ties together the plowback-payout choice and the debt-equity choice. The latter GL equation is given by the recent Hull [2010] Capital Structure Model (CSM) with growth. Given estimates for the costs of capital, tax rates and growth rates, this equation can guide managers of growth firms on how to choose an optimal debt level. This paper's exercise demonstrates the interdependency of the plowback-payout and debt-equity decisions when maximizing firm value. By incorporating growth through use of a plowback ratio, this paper extends the non-growth capital structure exercise of Hull [2008, JFEd]. This growth extension has proven to be successful in helping advanced business students understand the impact of the plowback and debt choices on firm value.

Beginning with a simple model of the debt/equity impact upon firm value and progressively adding complexity to this model, this book seeks to answer the question, What is the frontier of knowledge with respect to debt/equity alternatives, and could a major paradigm shift affect debt/equity choices? With a view toward providing the reader with a framework for examining debt/equity decisions, this book begins with a simple model of the debt/equity impact upon firm value. Utilizing the paradigm development of capital structure theory to identify the current research frontier of the factors affecting the firm debt/equity position, the authors also extrapolate from the current frontier to outline future opportunities for research and improvements in capital structure analysis. Each chapter begins with a discussion of a central tenet, moves on to a discussion of the theoretical research and empirical evidence pertaining to the tenet, and concludes with a summary of the implications of the paradigm shift for current and future research and practice. A chapter at the end of the book provides an analysis of some unanswered questions in the current frontier of knowledge that may be exploited for further research. One is the strength of signaling of capital structure changes on firm value. A second is a lack of specification for the set of capital structure simultaneous equations. A third emerging issue is the definition of the capital structure within behavioral finance thinking.