The Herat Company believes it has found 10 projects, of which 7 have positive NPV's given the company's cost of capital. If the company were to invest in all of these projects it would require a capital expenditure of $65 million. According to NPV theory, the company should invest in all of these projects, because each has a positive return. The company however, has made the decision to limit its capital expenditure to $40 million. List and briefly discuss 3 practical explanations why the company might forgo these value adding projects.

Intermediate Financial Management (MindTap Course List)
13th Edition
ISBN:9781337395083
Author:Eugene F. Brigham, Phillip R. Daves
Publisher:Eugene F. Brigham, Phillip R. Daves
Chapter12: Capital Budgeting: Decision Criteria
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 21P: Your division is considering two investment projects, each of which requires an up-front expenditure...
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The Herat Company believes it has found 10 projects, of which 7 have positive NPV's given the company's cost of capital. If the company were to invest in all of these projects it would require a capital expenditure of $65 million. According to NPV theory, the company should invest in all of these projects, because each has a positive return. The company however, has made the decision to limit its capital expenditure to $40 million. List and briefly discuss 3 practical explanations why the company might forgo these value adding projects.

Expert Solution
Reasons why the company might forego some high NPV projects

Net Present Value is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and cash outflows. Positive Net Present value projects should be accepted since they bring and add value to the firm. 

However, the firm might limit capital expenditure and might need to forego some positive NPV projects based on the following reasons:

 

1. High amount of capital expenditure reduces the Free cash flows available with the firm. In case of very high capital expenditure, the firm might be unable to have sufficient cash balances to meet its short term obligations. Hence, the firm might need to limit its capex and keep liquid resources.

 

2. The Net Present value of some projects might be positive but these projects might have very high initial cash out lay or investment. Example: The NPV of a project might be positive 500,000 but its initial investment or cash outlay could be 20 million. If we consider the profitability index of such a project then we get to know that the project might not be giving sufficient returns considering the initial investment and its risk.

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