The 2018 tax law changes are apparently having an impact on how companies are financing their assets. There is a WSJ article attached that provides background and examples of how some companies are dealing with the tax law changes.Pick a firm you are interested in (or one where you can find some data) and see research the internet for news on the capital structure for the firm. The WSJ attached article highlights what several companies have done and why. Basically, I want you to add to the body of examples.Which company did you choose? What was the change to the capital structure (going out for more debt, paying off debt, shifting debt to overseas subsidiaries…..)? What reasons did the firm state for the change, if any? Once you find the news article, go to the company’s website and look for press releases from about that time, is there any explanation given for the firm’s activities in the capital market?There isn’t a right or wrong answer, but your discussion needs to be on-point. Having an example such as “XYZ Co. sold $500mm in newbonds” and no discussion or additional detail is NOT a good post. I want details on the company’s possible strategy behind the activity. I realize that you might need to make some assumptions, and if you have some backup for those assumptions related to the underlying thinking, that’s fine. For example, you go to the XYZ Co. website and find a press release that indicates the firm decided to have their foreign subsidiary go for the debt, which means the interest payments would be paid by the overseas subsidiary, not affecting the total amount of interest paid by the US home firm. Alternatively,you might go to the firm’s 2018 10K and look at how the total interest amount relates to the firm’s EBITDA (see the WSJ article for what this means and why it is important). You need to have some support for your presumed “thinking behind the company decision”.Have some fun with this one.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tax-law-slashed-this-break-heres-how-companies-are-trying-to-keep-it-1527246000
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tax-law-slashed-this-break-heres-how-companies-are-trying-to-keep-it-1527246000
