An all-equity business has 100 million shares outstanding selling for $25 a share. Management believes that interest rates are unreasonably low and decides to execute a leveraged recapitalization (a recap). It will raise $1.0 billion in debt and repurchase 40 million shares
a. What is the market value of the firm prior to the recap?
b. What is the market value of equity?
c. Assuming the irrelevance proposition holds, what is the market value of the firm after the recap?
d. What is the market value of equity after the recap?