Question

Please answer the question below in 175 words or more.

One of the important topics we covered was Modigliani–Miller theorem, which basically means if there were no outside factors (like taxes, bankruptcy costs, agency costs, and the markets being totally efficient) that the value of the firm is not effected at all by how the firm is financed. If you had a choice, which way do you think is the best method to finance a company and why (could be anything, i.e. equity or debt)?

Answer 1

IF I HAD A CHOICE I WOULD HAVE USED EQUITY FINANCING

Equity Financing

Equity financing involves selling a portion of a company's equity in return for capital. For example, the owner of Company ABC might need to raise capital to fund business expansion. The owner decides to give up 10% of ownership in the company and sell it to an investor in return for capital. That investor now owns 10% of the company and has a voice in all business decisions going forward.

The main advantage of equity financing is that there is no obligation to repay the money acquired through it. Of course, a company's owners want it to be successful and provide the equity investors with a good return on their investment, but without required payments or interest charges, as is the case with debt financing.

Equity financing places no additional financial burden on the company. Since there are no required monthly payments associated with equity financing, the company has more capital available to invest in growing the business. But that doesn't mean there's no downside to equity financing.

In fact, the downside is quite large. In order to gain funding, you will have to give the investor a percentage of your company. You will have to share your profits and consult with your new partners any time you make decisions affecting the company. The only way to remove investors is to buy them out, but that will likely be more expensive than the money they originally gave you.

EXAMPLE OF EQUITY FINANCING

Company ABC is looking to expand its business by building new factories and purchasing new equipment. It determines that it needs to raise $50 million in capital to fund its growth.

To obtain this capital, Company ABC decides it will do so through a combination of equity financing and debt financing. For the equity financing component, it sells a 15% equity stake in its business to a private investor in return for $20 million in capital. For the debt financing component, it obtains a business loan from a bank in the amount of $30 million, with an interest rate of 3%. The loan must be paid back in three years.

There could be many different combinations with the above example that would result in different outcomes. For example, if Company ABC decided to raise capital with just equity financing, the owners would have to give up more ownership, reducing their share of future profits and decision-making power.