Debt-equity Mix and the
Value of the Firm
Capitalstructuretheories:
Netoperatingincome(NOI)approach.
Traditional approach and Net income (NI)
approach.
MM hypothesis with and without corporate tax.
Miller’s hypothesis with corporate and personal
taxes.
Trade-off theory: costs and benefits of leverage.
2
Net Income (NI) Approach
AccordingtoNIapproach
boththecostofdebtandthe
costofequityare
independentofthecapital
structure;theyremain
constantregardlessofhow
muchdebtthefirmuses.As
aresult,theoverallcostof
capitaldeclinesandthefirm
valueincreaseswithdebt.
Thisapproachhasnobasis
inreality;theoptimum
capitalstructurewouldbe
100percentdebtfinancing
underNIapproach.ke
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Debt
Cost
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3
NetOperatingIncome(NOI)Approach
According to NOI
approachthevalueofthe
firmandtheweighted
averagecostofcapitalare
independentofthefirm’s
capitalstructure.Inthe
absenceoftaxes,an
individualholdingallthe
debtandequitysecurities
willreceivethesamecash
flowsregardlessofthe
capitalstructureand
therefore,valueofthe
companyisthesame.ke
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Debt
Cost
4
MM Approach Without Tax:
Proposition I
MM’sPropositionIstates
thatthefirm’svalueis
independentofitscapital
structure.Withpersonal
leverage,shareholderscan
receiveexactlythesame
return,withthesamerisk,
fromaleveredfirmandan
unleveredfirm.Thus,they
willsellsharesoftheover-
pricedfirmandbuyshares
oftheunder-pricedfirm
untilthetwovalues
equate.Thisiscalled
arbitrage.ko
Debt
Cost
MM's Proposition I
6
Arbitrage
7Levered Firm ( ):
60,000 50,000 110,000
interest rate 6%; NOI 10,000
shares held by an investor in 10%
Unlevered Firm ( ):
100,000
NOI 10,000
l l l
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L
V S D
kX
L
U
VS
X
Arbitrage
8
Return from Levered Firm:
10 110,000 50 000 10% 60,000 6 000
10% 10,000 6% 50,000 1,000 300 700
Alternate Strategy:
1. Sell shares in : 10% 60,000 6,000
2. Borrow (personal leverage):
Investment % , ,
Return
L
10% 50,000 5,000
3. Buy shares in : 10% 100,000 10,000
Return from Alternate Strategy:
10,000
10% 10,000 1,000
: Interest on personal borrowing 6% 5,000 300
Net return 1,000 300 700
Ca
U
Investment
Return
Less
sh available 11,000 10,000 1,000
MM’s Proposition II
Thecostofequityfora
leveredfirmequalsthe
constantoverallcostof
capitalplusariskpremium
thatequalsthespread
betweentheoverallcostof
capitalandthecostofdebt
multipliedbythefirm’s
debt-equity ratio.For
financialleveragetobe
irrelevant,theoverallcostof
capitalmustremainconstant,
regardlessoftheamountof
debtemployed.Thisimplies
thatthecostofequitymust
riseasfinancialrisk
increases.ke
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Debt
Cost
MM's Proposition II
9