On November 25, 1993, the directors of Lex Service PLC, received a memorandum from G. Lionel Harvey, the company’s deputy chief executive, concerning the approaching board meeting on December 2. Attached to the memo was a report by the L.E.K. Partnership, a London-based consulting firm, concerning Lex’s cost of capital. The report and its implications for management were to be discussed at this board meeting.
Recent developments at Lex had focused top management’s attention on the company’s capital budgeting procedures and its cost of capital. Between 1991 and 1993, various sales of subsidiaries and other assets had provided Lex with more than £340 million of funds. During this same period, approximately £132.5 million of this amount had been used to pay for a string of new acquisitions in the automotive distribution and leasing businesses.1 Since Lex employed discounted cash flow analysis to help evaluate the worth of its investment opportunities, the question of what rate of return to demand on its investments had come squarely to the forefront as it implemented its acquisition program.