A company has identified the cost of debt and equity for various mixes of the two. The results are provided in the following table:
Cost of | Cost of | |
Percent debt | Debt | Equity |
0.00% | 0.00% | 15.00% |
20.00% | 5.00% | 16.00% |
40.00% | 5.50% | 18.00% |
60.00% | 7.00% | 23.00% |
80.00% | 9.00% | 31.00% |
With this information, what is the optimal mix of debt and equity for this company?
Optimal capital structure is the combination of debt and equity which minimizes cost of capital, i.e, WACC.
% of Equity = 1-%of Debt
WACC in the absence of taxes is calculated with the following equation
WACC = Cost of equity*% of Equity+ Cost of Debt*% of Debt
% of Debt | % of Equity | Cost of Debt | Cost of Equity | WACC |
0.00% | 100% | 0.00% | 15% | 0*0+15*1 =15% |
20% | 80% | 5% | 16% | 5*0.20+16*0.80=13.8% |
40% | 60% | 5.5% | 18% | 5.5*0.40+18*0.60 =13% |
60% | 40% | 7% | 23% | 7*0.60+23*0.40= 13.4% |
80% | 20% | 9% | 31% | 9*0.80+31*0.20 =13.4% |
WACC is minimum when weight of debt is 40%. Therefore, optimal mix of debt and equity is 40% Debt and 60% Equity.
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