Chapter 16
FINANCIAL LEVERAGE
AND CAPITAL
STRUCTURE POLICY
Quiz on WACC
Company’s D/E ratio is 2/3, they need
5500 financing and they want to keep the
same D/E ratio. How much equity they
should issue? (1p.)
 Company’s cost of equity is 14% and cost
of debt is 8%, tax is 40%; D/E ratio is ¼.
What is WACC? (2p).

1
Chapter Outline
The Capital Structure Decision
 The Effect of Financial Leverage
 Capital Structure and the Cost of Equity
 Miller&Modigliani Propositions
 Bankruptcy Costs
 Optimal Capital Structure
 Extended Pie Model
 Observed Capital Structures

2
Capital Restructuring

Capital restructuring involves changing the
amount of leverage a firm has without changing
the firm’s assets
Financial leverage = the extent to which the
firm relies on debt
Increase leverage by issuing debt and
repurchasing outstanding shares
 Decrease leverage by issuing new shares and
retiring outstanding debt

3
Choosing a Capital Structure

What is the primary goal of financial
managers?
◦ Maximize stockholder wealth

Stockholders’ wealth can be maximized
by maximizing firm value or minimizing
WACC
4
The Effect of Leverage

How does leverage affect the EPS and ROE of a
firm?
◦ When we increase the amount of debt financing, we
increase the fixed interest expense
◦ If we have a really good year, then we pay our fixed
cost and we have more left over for our stockholders
◦ If we have a really bad year, we still have to pay our
fixed costs and we have less left over for our
stockholders

Leverage amplifies the variation in both EPS and
ROE
5
Financial Leverage, EPS and ROE,
example (1) Current capital structure: No debt
EBIT
Interest
Net income
ROE
EPS
Recession
$500,000
0
500,000
6.25%
$1.25
Expected
$1,000,000
0
1,000,000
12.50%
$2.50
Expansion
$1,500,000
0
1,500,000
18.75%
$3.75
EBIT
Interest
Net income
ROE
EPS
Proposed capital structure: Debt = $ 4 mln
Recession
Expected
Expansion
$500,000
$1,000,000
$1,500,000
400,000
400,000
400,000
100,000
600,000
1,100,000
2.50%
15.00%
27.50%
$0.50
$3.00
$5.50
6
Financial Leverage, EPS and ROE, example
(2)

Variability in ROE
◦ Current: ROE ranges from 6.25% to 18.75%
◦ Proposed: ROE ranges from 2.50% to 27.50%

Variability in EPS
◦ Current: EPS ranges from $1.25 to $3.75
◦ Proposed: EPS ranges from $0.50 to $5.50

The variability in both ROE and EPS
increases when financial leverage is
increased
7
Degree of financial leverage
Degree of financial leverage 
Percentage change in EPS
Percentage change in EBIT
EBIT
Degree of financial leverage 
EBIT  Interest
8
Break-Even EBIT
Find EBIT where EPS is the same under
both the current and proposed capital
structures
 If EBIT is expected to be greater than the
break-even point, then leverage is
beneficial to stockholders
 If EBIT is expected to be less than the
break-even point, then leverage is
detrimental to stockholders

9
Financial Leverage, EPS and ROE
Breakeven (indifference) EBIT solution:
EBIT
EBIT  400,000

400,000
200,000
 400,000 
EBIT  400,000
EBIT  

 200,000 
EBIT  2EBIT  800,000
EBIT  $800,000
800,000
EPS 
 $2.00
400,000
10
Homemade Leverage and ROE

Current Capital Structure
◦ Investor borrows $2000 and
uses $2000 of their own to
buy 200 shares of stock
◦ Payoffs:
 Recession: 200(1.25) .1(2000) = $50
 Expected: 200(2.50) .1(2000) = $300
 Expansion: 200(3.75) .1(2000) = $550

Proposed Capital Structure
◦ Investor buys $2000 worth
of stock (100 shares)
◦ Payoffs:
 Recession: 100(0.50) = $50
 Expected: 100(3.00) = $300
 Expansion: 100(5.50)= $550
◦ Mirrors the payoffs from
purchasing 100 shares from
the firm under the proposed
capital structure
11
Homemade leverage

The use of personal borrowing to change
the overall amount of financial leverage to
which individual is exposed

The investor can both “lever” his position
through borrowing or “unlever” through lending
12
Capital Structure Theory

Modigliani and Miller Theory of Capital
Structure
◦ Proposition I – the pie model
◦ Proposition II – WACC

The value of the firm is determined by the
cash flows to the firm and the risk of the
assets
13
Capital Structure Theory Under Three
Special Cases

Case I – Assumptions (M&M)
◦ No corporate or personal taxes
◦ No bankruptcy costs

Case II – Assumptions (M&M)
◦ Corporate taxes
◦ No bankruptcy costs

Case III – Assumptions (Static Theory)
◦ Corporate taxes
◦ Bankruptcy costs
14
Case I – No Taxes or Bankruptcy
Costs

M&M Proposition I
◦ The value of the firm is NOT affected by
changes in the capital structure
◦ The cash flows of the firm do not change,
therefore value doesn’t change

Proposition II
◦ The WACC of the firm is NOT affected by
capital structure
15
Case I

WACC = RA = (E/V)RE + (D/V)RD

RE = RA + (RA – RD)(D/E)
◦ RA is the required return on the firm’s assets
◦ (RA – RD)(D/E) is the additional return
required by stockholders to compensate for
the risk of leverage
16
Case I, example

Data
◦ Required return on assets = 16%, cost of debt =
10%; percent of debt = 45%

What is the cost of equity?

Suppose instead that the cost of equity is 25%,
what is the debt-to-equity ratio?

Based on this information, what is the percent of
equity in the firm?
17
The CAPM, the SML and Proposition II

CAPM: RA = Rf + A(RM – Rf)
◦ Where A is the firm’s asset beta and
measures the systematic risk of the firm’s
assets

Proposition II
◦ RE = Rf + A(RM – Rf)(1+D/E)
18
Business Risk and Financial Risk
RE = Rf + A(1+D/E)(RM – Rf)

CAPM: RE = Rf + E(RM – Rf)
◦ E = A(1 + D/E)

Therefore, the systematic risk of the
stock depends on:
◦ Systematic risk of the assets, A, (Business
risk)
◦ Level of leverage, D/E, (Financial risk)
19
Quiz – February 28
Company A’s D/E=.6; the beta of its assets
is 1.2; expected market return is 13% and
the risk free rate is 3%. What is the
required return on company A’s equity?
 If there are no taxes and RD = .08, what is
the Company’s weighted average cost of
capital?

1620
Case II – With Corporate Taxes

Interest is tax deductible
Interest tax shield = The tax saving
attained by a firm from interest expense

The reduction in taxes increases the cash
flow of the firm
21
Case II, example (1)
EBIT
Unlevered
Levered Firm
Firm
5000
5000
Interest
0
500
Taxable
Income
Taxes
5000
4500
1700
1530
Net Income
3300
2970
CFFA
3300
3470
22
Case II, example (2)
Assume the company has $6,250, 8% coupon debt
and faces a 34% tax rate.
 Annual interest tax shield

◦ Tax rate times interest payment:
◦ Annual tax shield = 170

Present value of annual interest tax shield:
◦ PV = 170/.08
23
Case II – Proposition I

The value of the firm increases by the
present value of the annual interest tax
shield
◦ Value of a levered firm = value of an unlevered
firm + PV of interest tax shield
◦ Value of equity = Value of the firm – Value of
debt
◦ VU = EBIT(1-T) / RU
◦ VL = VU + DTC
24
Case II – Proposition I, example
◦ EBIT = $25 million; Tax rate = 35%; Debt =
$75 million; Cost of debt = 9%; Unlevered
cost of capital = 12%

VU =25*.65/.12=

VL

E=
25
Case II – Proposition II

The WACC decreases as D/E increases
because of the government subsidy on
interest payments
◦ WACC = (E/V)RE + (D/V)(RD)(1-TC)
◦ RE = RU + (RU – RD)(D/E)(1-TC)

Example
◦ RE = .12 + (.12-.09)(75/86.67)(1-.35) = 13.69%
◦ WACC = (86.67/161.67)(.1369) +
(75/161.67)(.09)
(1-.35)
WACC = 10.05%
26
Case II – Proposition II, example
Suppose that the firm changes its capital
structure so that the D/E ratio = 1.
 What will happen to the cost of equity
under the new capital structure?


What will happen to the weighted average
cost of capital?
27
Case III – with Bankruptcy Costs

As the D/E ratio increases, the probability of
bankruptcy increases

At some point, the additional value of the
interest tax shield will be offset by the expected
bankruptcy cost

At this point, the value of the firm will start to
decrease and the WACC will start to increase
as more debt is added
28
Bankruptcy Costs
(Financial distress costs)

Direct costs
◦ Legal and administrative costs
◦ Ultimately cause bondholders to incur
additional losses
◦ Disincentive to debt financing

Indirect costs
◦ The difficulties of running business that is
experiencing financial distress
◦ Examples: potentially fruitful programs are
dropped, employees are leaving the company
29
Static Theory of Capital Structure

A firm borrows up to the point where
the tax benefit from an extra dollar in
debt is exactly equal to the cost that
comes from the increased probability of
financial distress

At this point the firm’s WACC is
minimized
30
Static Theory and Firm Value
31
Extended Pie Model
32
The Value of the Firm

Value of the firm = marketed claims +
non-marketed claims
◦ Marketed - claims of stockholders and
bondholders
◦ Non-marketed - claims of the government
and other potential stakeholders
The overall value of the firm is unaffected
by changes in capital structure
 The division of value between marketed
claims and non-marketed claims may be
impacted by capital structure decisions

33
Observed Capital Structures

Capital structure differ by industry

There is a connection between different
industry’s operating characteristics and
capital structure

Firms and lenders look at the industry’s
debt/equity ratio as a guide
34