Ross et al.: Fundamentals
of Corporate Finance, Sixth
Edition, Alternate EditionVI. Cost of Capital and
Long−Term Financial
Policy(^544) 15. Cost of Capital © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2002
What is the NPV of the new printing plant?
To begin, because printing is the company’s main line of business, we will use the
company’s weighted average cost of capital to value the new printing plant:
WACC (E/V) RE(D/V) RD(1 TC)
.50 20% .50 10% (1 .34)
13.3%
Because the cash flows are $73,150 per year forever, the PV of the cash flows at 13.3
percent per year is:
PV$550,000
If we ignore flotation costs, the NPV is:
NPV$550,000 500,000 $50,000
With no flotation costs, the project generates an NPV that is greater than zero, so it
should be accepted.
What about financing arrangements and issue costs? Because new financing must be
raised, the flotation costs are relevant. From the information given, we know that the
flotation costs are 2 percent for debt and 10 percent for equity. Because Tripleday uses
equal amounts of debt and equity, the weighted average flotation cost, fA, is:
fA(E/V) fE(D/V) fD
.50 10% .50 2%
6%
Remember, the fact that Tripleday can finance the project with all debt or all equity is
irrelevant. Because Tripleday needs $500,000 to fund the new plant, the true cost, once
we include flotation costs, is $500,000/(1 fA) $500,000/.94 $531,915. Because
the PV of the cash flows is $550,000, the plant has an NPV of $550,000 531,915
$18,085, so it is still a good investment. However, its value is less than we initially
might have thought.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This chapter has discussed cost of capital. The most important concept is the weighted
average cost of capital, or WACC, which we interpreted as the required rate of return on
the overall firm. It is also the discount rate appropriate for cash flows that are similar in
risk to those of the overall firm. We described how the WACC can be calculated, and we
illustrated how it can be used in certain types of analyses.
We also pointed out situations in which it is inappropriate to use the WACC as the
discount rate. To handle such cases, we described some alternative approaches to devel-
oping discount rates, such as the pure play approach. We also discussed how the flota-
tion costs associated with raising new capital can be included in an NPV analysis.CONCEPT QUESTIONS
15.6a What are flotation costs?
15.6bHow are flotation costs included in an NPV analysis?$73,150
.133
516 PART SIX Cost of Capital and Long-Term Financial Policy