International Capital Structure and the Cost of

Capital

17-1 Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Outline
 Cost of Capital
 Cost of Capital in Segmented vs. Integrated
Markets
 Does the Cost of Capital Differ Among Countries?
 Cross-Border Listings of Stocks
 Capital Asset Pricing Under Cross-Listings
 The Effect of Foreign Equity Ownership
Restrictions
 The Financial Structure of Subsidiaries.
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 Cost of Capital
 The cost of capital is the minimum rate of return
an investment project must generate in order to
pay its financing costs.

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 The Firm’s Investment Decision and
the Cost of Capital
 A firm that can reduce its

cost of capital (%)

cost of capital will
increase the profitable
capital expenditures that K local
the firm can take on and
increase the wealth of the K global
shareholders.
IRR
 Internationalizing the
firm’s cost of capital is
Investment ($)
one such policy. Ilocal Iglobal
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 Firm’s Investment Decision and the
Cost of Capital
 Firm’s cost of capital may decrease when the firm’s stock is cross-listed on
foreign stock exchanges.

 If a stock becomes internationally tradable upon overseas listing, the required

return on the stock is likely to go down because the stock will be priced
according to the international systematic risk rather than the local
systematic risk. It is well known that for a typical stock, the international
systematic risk is lower than the local systematic risk.

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 Cost of Capital in Segmented vs.
Integrated Markets
In segmented capital markets, the cost of capital will be determined essentially
by the securities’ domestic systematic risks. In integrated capital markets, on
the other hand, the cost of capital will be determined by the securities’ world
systematic risk, regardless of nationality.

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 Cost of Capital in Segmented vs.
Integrated Markets
 The cost of equity capital (Ke) of a firm is the
expected return on the firm’s stock that investors
require.
 This return is frequently estimated using the
Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM):
Ri = Rf + i(RM – Rf)
Cov(Ri ,RM)
where i=
Var(RM)
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 Cost of Capital in Segmented vs.
Integrated Markets
If capital markets are segmented, then investors can only
invest domestically. This means that the market portfolio
(M) in the CAPM formula would be the domestic portfolio
instead of the world portfolio.
Ri = Rf + U.S.
i (RU.S. – Rf)

versus Ri = Rf + W
i (RW – Rf)

Clearly integration or segmentation of international financial

markets has major implications for determining the cost of
capital.
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 Does the Cost of Capital
Differ among Countries?
 There do appear to be differences in the cost of
capital in different countries.
 When markets are imperfect, international
financing can lower the firm’s cost of capital.
 One way to achieve this is to internationalize the
firm’s ownership structure.

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 Cross-Border Listings of Stocks
 Cross-border listings of stocks have become quite
popular among major corporations.
 The largest contingent of foreign stocks are listed
on the London Stock Exchange.
 U.S. exchanges attracted the next largest
contingent of foreign stocks.

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 Cross-Border Listings of Stocks
Cross-border listings of stocks benefit a company in the
following ways.
1. The company can expand its potential investor base, which will
lead to a higher stock price and lower cost of capital.
2. Cross-listing creates a secondary market for the company’s
shares, which facilitates raising new capital in foreign markets.
3. Cross-listing can enhance the liquidity of the company’s stock.
4. Cross-listing enhances the visibility of the company’s name and
its products in foreign marketplaces.

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 Cross-Border Listings of Stocks
Cross-border listings of stocks do carry costs.
1. It can be costly to meet the disclosure and listing
requirements imposed by the foreign exchange and
regulatory authorities.
2. Once a company’s stock is traded in overseas
markets, there can be volatility spillover from these
markets.
3. Once a company’s stock is make available to
foreigners, they might acquire a controlling interest
and challenge the domestic control of the company.
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 Cross-Border Listings of Stocks
On average, cross-border listings of stocks appears
to be a profitable decision.
The benefits outweigh the costs.

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 The Effect of Foreign Equity
Ownership Restrictions
 While companies have incentives to
internationalize their ownership structure to lower
the cost of capital and increase market share, they
may be concerned with the possible loss of
corporate control to foreigners.
 In some countries, there are legal restrictions on
the percentage of a firm that foreigners can own.
 These restrictions are imposed as a means of
ensuring domestic control of local firms.
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 Pricing-to-Market Phenomenon
 Suppose foreigners, if allowed, would like to buy
30 percent of a Korean firm.
 But they are constrained by ownership constraints
imposed on foreigners to purchase at most 20
percent.
 Because this constraint is effective in limiting
desired foreign ownership, foreign and domestic
investors many face different market share prices.
 This dual pricing is the pricing-to-market
phenomenon.
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 Asset Pricing under Foreign Ownership
Restrictions
 An interesting outcome is that the firm’s cost of
capital depends on which investors, domestic or
foreign, supply capital.
 The implication is that a firm can reduce its cost
of capital by internationalizing its ownership
structure.

17-16 Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.