FM Cost of Capital
FM Cost of Capital
Cost of capital is the rate of return the firm required from investment in order to increase the value of the
firm in the market place. It is the required rate of return on its investments which belongs to equity, debt
and retained earnings that a firm must earn on its project investments to maintain market value and
attract funds.
2) Explain the factors determining cost of capital.
i) Economic Economic conditions determine the demand for and supply of capital within
Conditions the economy, as well as the level of expected inflation. This economic
variable is reflected in the risk less rate of return. This rate represents the
rate of return on risk- free investments.
ii) Market conditions When investors increase their required rate of return, the cost of capital
rises simultaneously. If a security is readily marketable and its price is
reasonably stable, the investor will require a lower rate of return and the
company’s cost of capital will be lower and vice versa.
iii) Amount of As the financing requirements of the firm become larger, the cost of capital
financing increases. High amount of capital also increases the overall cost of capital
due to issue related costs and the greater risks involved. If the firm uses
lower volume of capital then the suppliers of the fund remain more assured
of their fund and the cost of capital reduces.
3) Explain the importance of cost of capital.
iii) Cost of Equity: The cost of equity is the return that a company requires to decide if an investment
meets capital return requirements. Firms often use it as a capital budgeting threshold for the required
rate of return.
A) CAPM model
This is a popular approach to estimate the cost of equity. According to the CAPM, the cost of equity
capital is:
Ke = Rf + (Rm - Rf ) β
Where: Ke = Cost of equity
Rf = Risk-free rate
Rm = Equity market required return (expected return on the market portfolio)
β = beta is Systematic Risk Coefficient