Valuing Centralia’s Timing Option In this example, we value the timing option
described in the above example using the binomial options pricing model developed
in Chapter 7. We use Centralia’s 8 percent borrowing cost in dollars and 7 percent
borrowing cost in euros as our estimates of the domestic and foreign risk-free
rates of interest. Depending upon the action of the ECB, the euro will either appreciate
10 percent to $1.45/€1.00 or depreciate 9 percent to $1.20/€1.00 from its current
level of $1.32/$1.00. Thus, u 1.10 and d 1/1.10. .91. This implies that the
risk-neutral probability of an appreciation is q [(1 i
d)/(1 i
f
) d]/(u d)
[(1.08)/(1.07) .91]/(1.10 .91) .52 and the probability of a depreciation is 1 q
.48. Since the timing option will only be exercised if the APV is positive, the value
of the timing option is C .52($86,674)/(1.08) $41,732. Since this amount is in
excess of the $6,600 cost of the purchase option on the land, Centralia should definitely
take advantage of the timing option it is confronted with to wait and see what
monetary policy the ECB decides to pursue.