Topic: Investment Appraisal

The Governing Board of Dominase Agriculture University is considering a capital project and related financing options. The project involves the construction of a candidate hostel, which requires capital outlays of GH¢20 million in the first year and GH¢30 million in the second year.

The hostel will become operational in the third year. Net operating cash flows from the hostel are expected to be GH¢20 million annually for the first three years of operation (i.e. Years 3, 4, and 5) and then begin to grow at a constant rate of 10% annually to perpetuity.

The project finance advisory team has presented the following two financing options for the consideration by the Governing Board:

Option 1: A Syndicated Bank Loan

Through a syndication arrangement led by the National Investment Bank, the university can borrow the required GH¢50 million from five local banks at an annual interest rate of 28% with quarterly compounding. The loan amount will be released to the university immediately. The university will be given a moratorium (grace period) of two years to complete the construction of the hostel before it is required to start paying off the loan balance in equal instalments at the end of each quarter for ten years. Interest will accumulate on the loan during the grace period.

Option 2: Bond Issuance

The university can issue a bond to raise the GH¢50 million required to finance the construction of the hostel. The bonds will be issued in 50,200 units of GH¢1,000 face value each. The annual coupon rate on the bond will be set at 26%, but coupons will be paid semiannually starting as soon as the bond is issued. The bonds will be issued now and redeemed in 15 years at a premium of 10%. Although the total redemption value will be paid to the bondholders at maturity, the university will be required to establish a sinking fund to raise enough money to redeem the bonds. The university can deposit equal sums of money into the fund at the beginning of every six months, starting from the third year until the fifteenth year when the bond will be redeemed. The fund will be invested at an annual interest rate of 20%.

Required:

a) Regarding the syndicated loan,

i) Compute the loan’s balance at the end of the moratorium.

(3 marks)

ii) Compute the quarterly instalment required to amortise the loan over the ten-year repayment period.

(4 marks)

b) Regarding the bond issue,

i) Compute the total redemption value of the bond.

(3 marks)

ii) Compute the size of each semi-annual instalment into the sinking fund.

(4 marks)

c) Compute the project’s net present value (NPV) and provide an investment recommendation based on it. Assume the required rate of return on the project is 30%.

(6 marks)