McKENZIE CORPORATION'S CAPITAL BUDGETING

McKENZIE CORPORATION'S CAPITAL BUDGETING
Sam McKenzie is the founder and CEO of McKenzie Restaurants, Inc., a regional company. Sam isconsidering opening several new restaurants. Sally Thornton, the company's CFO, has been put incharge of the capital budgeting analysis. She has examined the potential for the company's expansionand determined that the success of the new restaurants will depend critically on the state of the economyover the next few years.
McKenzie currently has a bond issue outstanding with a face value of $29 million that is due in oneyear. Covenants associated with this bond issue prohibit the issuance of any additional debt. Thisrestriction means that the expansion will be entirely financed with equity at a cost of $5.7 million. Sally hassummarized her analysis in the following table, which shows the value of the company in each state of theeconomy next year, both with and without expansion:

1. What is the expected value of the company in one year, with and without expansion? Would thecompany's stockholders be better off with or without expansion? Why?

1. What is the expected value of the company's debt in one year, with and without the expansion?
1. One year from now, how much value creation is expected from the expansion? How much valueis expected for stockholders? Bondholders?

1. If the company announces that it is not expanding, what do you think will happen to the price ofits bonds? What will happen to the price of the bonds if the company does expand?
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1. If the company opts not to expand, what are the implications for the company's future borrowingneeds? What are the implications if the company does expand?

1. Because of the bond covenant, the expansion would have to be financed with equity. How wouldit affect your answer if the expansion were financed with cash on hand instead of new equity?