Strategic Corporate Finance Applications in Valuation and Capital Structure

List of Figures.

List of Tables.

Acknowledgments.

About the Author.

PART ONE: Managing the Left-Hand Side of the Balance Sheet.

Chapter 1: The Cost Of Capital.

Calculation Pitfalls.

Market Risk Premium (MRP).

Toward a Better Beta.

The "Riskless Rate"

The Cost of Debt.

Global Capital Costs.

WACC and Hurdle Rates.

Chapter 2: Fix: Finding Your Sources of Value.

Why Shareowner Value?

Performance Measurement Pitfalls.

Measuring Economic Profit and Value.

Analyzing the Corporate Portfolio.

Incorporating the Cost of Capacity.

Value-Based Strategies and Tactics.

Managing for Value.

Balancing Performance with Value.

Chapter 3: Sell: Creating Value Through Divestiture.

Divestiture Creates Value.

Sources of Value: Motives for Divestiture.

Alternative Methods of Disposition.

What Works Best for Whom?

What Happens Longer Term?

Practical Impediments to Divestiture.

Financial Policy Considerations.

Tax Considerations and Structural Refinements.

Chapter 4: Grow: How To Make M&A Pay.

M&A Today.

Transactions that Create Value.

M&A Fact and Fallacy.

RX for the "Conglomerate Discount."

EVA and M&A.

How ‘‘Serial Acquirers’’ Create Value.

Financial Policy Considerations.

Financing Growth.

Chapter 5: Cash and The Optimal Capital Structure.

Trends and Implications.

How Much Is Too Much?

The Costs and Benefits of Excess Cash.

How the Market Views Excess Cash.

Optimal Capital Allocation.

PART TWO: Managing the Right-Hand Side of the Balance Sheet.

Chapter 6: An Executive’s Guide to Credit Ratings.

Trends and Implications.

Empirical Evidence.

Limitations of Quantitative Credit Analysis.

What Metrics Matter Most?

Case Study: Treatment of Pension and Postretirement Liabilities.

Multivariate Credit Models.

Industry Considerations.

Case Study: Property and Casualty Insurance.

Application Issues.

How to Manage Your Agencies.

Case Study: Illustration of Secured and Unsecured Notching.

Chapter 7: Today’s Optimal Capital Structure.

Value-Based Financial Policy.

Less Debt Is Now "Optimal."

Extend Duration When Rates Are Low.

Maintain Financial Liquidity to "Insure" Your Equity.

A New Perspective on Equity.

Case Study: Does Tech Need Debt?

Chapter 8: Dividends and Buybacks: Calibrating Your Shareholder Distributions.

The Cash Problem.

Dividends Are Back.

How Dividends and Buybacks Create Value.

Should You Increase Your Dividend?

How Large Should Your Buyback Program Be?

How to Execute Your Share Repurchase Program.

Chapter 9: The Stock Liquidity Handbook.

Measuring Stock Liquidity.

The "Liquidity Discount."

Implications of Stock Illiquidity.

Solutions to Illiquidity.

Stock Splits.

PART THREE: Managing the Enterprise.

Chapter 10: Strategic Risk Management: Where ERM Meets Optimal Capital Structure.

The Value of Risk Management.

Mapping and Modeling Risk.

Managing to a Benchmark.

External Considerations and Constraints.

ERM Case Study: Metallgesellschaft AG.

Capital Structure Solutions.

Chapter 11: Best Practices In Hedging.

Which "Exposure" to Hedge.

Hedge Horizon.

Hedge Ratio.

Options versus Forwards.

Accounting Considerations.

Implementation.

Chapter 12: ERM Case Study: Reengineering The Corporate Pension.

Why Now?

The Problems with Equity.

The Case for More Bonds.

Optimal Capital Structure Reprise.

Capital Markets Solutions.

The Boots Case.

Why It Still Hasn’t Happened.

APPENDIX A: Resources.

Tools and Portals.

New Research and Literature Search.

Economic Research and Data.

News and Market Data.

Corporate Governance and Compensation.

Other Agencies.

Endnotes.

References.

Index.