Trident Corporation is currently worth $1,000,000. Its current debt-to-value (D/V) ratio is 40%. The company is confident in meeting its debt obligation, and wants to introduce more debt to take advantage of the tax shield of interest payment. It is planning to repurchase part of the common stock by issuing more corporate debt. As a result, the firm’s debt value is expected to rise from $400,000 to $500,000. The cost of debt is 10 percent per year. Trident expects to have an EBIT of $200,000 per year in perpetuity. Trident’s tax rate is 50%.
a. How much does the value of the firm increase after the announcement? If the goal is to maximize the firm’s value, would you recommend the CEO of Trident to borrow as much as they can? Please explain your rationale. Ignore the cost of financial distress and agency cost.
b. Now we consider the downside of debt borrowing: cost of financial distress and agency cost. The more debt there is, the more costly it could be when the firm fails to meet its debt obligation. Suppose the firm expects to incur an additional cost of $40,000 for this $100,000 increase in leverage. If the goal is to maximize the firm’s value, would you recommend the CEO of Trident to proceed with this repurchase plan? Please explain your rationale.