In: Finance
Baxter has historically maintained a debt-equity ratio of
approximately 0.25. The firm enjoys very stable demand...
- Baxter has historically maintained a debt-equity ratio of
approximately 0.25. The firm enjoys very stable demand for its
products, and consequently can borrow at 4.20%, just 20 basis
points over the risk-free rate of 4%. Baxter’s tax rate is 40%.
Current market value of Baxter (including debt and equity) is 120
m. The company is expected to have free cash flows of $10 billion
in perpetuity
Baxter believes it can increase debt
without any serious risk of distress or other costs. With a higher
debt-equity ratio of 0.50, it believes its borrowing costs will
rise only slightly to 4.50%.
- Determine Baxter’s rWACC before the recapitalization
and rA
- If Baxter announces that it will raise its debt-equity ratio to
0.5 through a leveraged recapitalization, determine its new
WACC
- Determine the increase in the company value that would result
from the anticipated tax savings.