Lahore School of Economics: Final Semester Exam May 2021
Lahore School of Economics: Final Semester Exam May 2021
Lahore School of Economics: Final Semester Exam May 2021
The current interest rate on new debt is 9%; Foust’s marginal tax rate is 40%;
and its capital structure, considered to be optimal, is as follows:
(12 marks)
Q7) Klose Outfitters Inc. believes that its optimal capital structure consists of
60%common equity and 40% debt, and its tax rate is 40%. Klose must raise
additional capital tofund its upcoming expansion. The firm will have $2 million
of new retained earnings with a cost of rs=12%. New common stock in an
amount up to $6 million would have a cost of re=15%. Furthermore, Klose
can raise up to $3 million of debt at an interest rate of rd=10%and an
additional $4 million of debt at rd=12%. The CFO estimates that a
proposedexpansion would require an investment of $5.9 million. What is the
WACC for the last dollar raised to complete the expansion?
(8 Marks)
Q8a) An electric utility is consid-ering a new power plant in northern Arizona.
Power from the plant would be sold in thePhoenix area, where it is badly
needed. Because the firm has received a permit, the plant would be legal;
but it would cause some air pollution. The company could spend anadditional
$40 million at Year 0 to mitigate the environmental problem, but it would
notbe required to do so. The plant without mitigation would cost $240 million,
and theexpected net cash inflows would be $80 million per year for 5 years.
If the firm does investin mitigation, the annual inflows would be $84 million.
Unemployment in the area wherethe plant would be built is high, and the
plant would provide about 350 good jobs. Therisk-adjusted WACC is 17%.
1). Calculate the NPV and IRR with and without mitigation.
2). How should the environmental effects be dealt with when evaluating this
project?
3). Should this project be undertaken? If so, should the firm do the
mitigation?
(8 marks)
b) An oil drilling company must choose betweentwo mutually exclusive
extraction projects, and each costs $12 million. Under Plan A, all the oil
would be extracted in 1 year, producing a cash flow at t=1 of $14.4 million.
Under PlanB, cash flows would be $2.1 million per year for 20 years. The
firm’s WACC is 12%.
1. Construct NPV profiles for Plans A and B, identify each project’s IRR, and
show theapproximate crossover rate.
2). Is it logical to assume that the firm would take on all available
independent,average-risk projects with returns greater than 12%? If all
available projects withreturns greater than 12% have been undertaken, does
this mean that cash flows frompast investments have an opportunity cost of
only 12% because all the company can dowith these cash flows is to replace
money that has a cost of 12%? Does this imply thatthe WACC is the correct
reinvestment rate assumption for a project’s cash flows?
(12 Marks)