Modigliani and Miller Approach indicates that value of a leveraged firm (firm which has a mix of debt and equity) is the same as the value of an unleveraged firm (firm which is wholly financed by equity) if the operating profits and future prospects are same. That is, if an investor purchases shares of a leveraged firm, it would cost him the same as buying the shares of an unleveraged firm.
Modigliani and Miller Approach: Two Propositions without Taxes
Proposition 1: With the above assumptions of “no taxes”, the capital structure does not influence the valuation of a firm. In other words, leveraging the company does not increase the market value of the company. It also suggests that debt holders in the company and equity share holders have the same priority i.e. earnings are split equally amongst them.
Proposition 2: It says that financial leverage is in direct proportion to the cost of equity. With increase in debt component, the equity shareholders perceive a higher risk to for the company. Hence, in return, the shareholders expect a higher return, thereby increasing the cost of equity. A key distinction here is that proposition 2 assumes that debt share holders have upper-hand as far as claim on earnings is concerned. Thus, the cost of debt reduces.
Modigliani and Miller Approach: Propositions with Taxes (The Trade-Off Theory of Leverage)
The Modigliani and Miller Approach assumes that there are no taxes. But in real world, this is far from truth. Most countries, if not all, tax a company. This theory recognizes the tax benefits accrued by interest payments. The interest paid on borrowed funds is tax deductible. However, the same is not the case with dividends paid on equity. To put it in other words, the actual cost of debt is less than the nominal cost of debt because of tax benefits. The trade-off theory advocates that a company can capitalize its requirements with debts as long as the cost of distress i.e. the cost of bankruptcy exceeds the value of tax benefits. Thus, the increased debts, until a given threshold value will add value to a company.
This approach with corporate taxes does acknowledge tax savings and thus infers that a change in debt equity ratio has an effect on WACC (Weighted Average Cost of Capital). This means higher the debt, lower is the WACC. This Modigilani and Miller approach is one of the modern approaches of Capital Structure Theory.