A project has the following cash flows. Normally cash flows are assumed to happen at the given time. But here, assume that the cash flows are received smoothly over the year. So the $250 at time 2 is actually earned smoothly from t=1 to t=2:
| Project Cash Flows | |
| Time (yrs) | Cash flow ($) |
| 0 | -400 |
| 1 | 200 |
| 2 | 250 |
What is the payback period of the project in years?
Question 247 cross currency interest rate parity, no explanation
In the so called 'Swiss Loans Affair' of the 1980's, Australian banks offered loans denominated in Swiss Francs to Australian farmers at interest rates as low as 4% pa. This was far lower than interest rates on Australian Dollar loans which were above 10% due to very high inflation in Australia at the time.
In the late-1980's there was a large depreciation in the Australian Dollar. The Australian Dollar nearly halved in value against the Swiss Franc. Many Australian farmers went bankrupt since they couldn't afford the interest payments on the Swiss Franc loans because the Australian Dollar value of those payments nearly doubled. The farmers accused the banks of promoting Swiss Franc loans without making them aware of the risks.
What fundamental principal of finance did the Australian farmers (and the bankers) fail to understand?
Acquirer firm plans to launch a takeover of Target firm. The firms operate in different industries and the CEO's rationale for the merger is to increase diversification and thereby decrease risk. The deal is not expected to create any synergies. An 80% scrip and 20% cash offer will be made that pays the fair price for the target's shares. The cash will be paid out of the firms' cash holdings, no new debt or equity will be raised.
| Firms Involved in the Takeover | ||
| Acquirer | Target | |
| Assets ($m) | 6,000 | 700 |
| Debt ($m) | 4,800 | 400 |
| Share price ($) | 40 | 20 |
| Number of shares (m) | 30 | 15 |
Ignore transaction costs and fees. Assume that the firms' debt and equity are fairly priced, and that each firms' debts' risk, yield and values remain constant. The acquisition is planned to occur immediately, so ignore the time value of money.
Calculate the merged firm's share price and total number of shares after the takeover has been completed.
What is the correlation of a variable X with a constant C?
The corr(X, C) or ##\rho_{X,C}## equals:
Question 637 option, option payoff at maturity, no explanation
Which of the below formulas gives the payoff ##(f)## at maturity ##(T)## from being short a call option? Let the underlying asset price at maturity be ##S_T## and the exercise price be ##X_T##.
An equity index stands at 100 points and the one year equity futures price is 102.
The equity index is expected to have a dividend yield of 4% pa. Assume that investors are risk-neutral so their total required return on the shares is the same as the risk free Treasury bond yield which is 10% pa. Both are given as discrete effective annual rates.
Assuming that the equity index is fairly priced, an arbitrageur would recognise that the equity futures are:
Question 703 utility, risk aversion, utility function, gamble
Mr Blue, Miss Red and Mrs Green are people with different utility functions.
Each person has $500 of initial wealth. A coin toss game is offered to each person at a casino where the player can win or lose $500. Each player can flip a coin and if they flip heads, they receive $500. If they flip tails then they will lose $500. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?
Question 776 market efficiency, systematic and idiosyncratic risk, beta, income and capital returns
Which of the following statements about returns is NOT correct? A stock's:
Question 795 option, Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing, option delta, no explanation
Which of the following quantities from the Black-Scholes-Merton option pricing formula gives the Delta of a European put option?