Reference no: EM132665716

JBT productions is a provider of a IT server and computer Headquarters in two large regions of South East Asia, where its two divisions are located. The company uses a market rate of 10% to evaluate investments; however, based on recent management reports, it realized that the two divisions have a quite different risk and return profiles. In fact, comparable companies for division 1 have equity betas of 1.2 while for companies in division 2 it is about 0.3. The financial manager aims to estimate the cost of capital as precisely as possible and tries to evaluate how acceptable investments in both divisions are at an 10 percent rate.

The following data is available for both divisions:

                                     Division 1 (%)                    Division 2 (%)
Equity beta                       1.2                                 0.3
Tax rate                             40                                 40
Cost of debt                        5                                    14
Debt ratio                            24                                 38
The risk-free rate of interest for both divisions        3.4
The market risk premium for both divisions               5

Problem 1. Estimate the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) for both divisions and with your calculations explain if both these divisions are a viable investment? Why/why not?