
What is the Modigliani and Miller approach to capital theory?
The Modigliani and Miller approach to capital theory, devised in the 1950s, advocates the capital structure irrelevancy theory.
What is Modigliani and Miller’s proposal without taxes?
Modigliani and Miller Approach: Two Propositions without Taxes. Proposition 1. With the above assumptions of “no taxes”, the capital structure does not influence the valuation of a firm. In other words, leveraging the company does not increase the market value of the company.
What is the contribution of Merton Miller and Modigliani in finance?
Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller jointly worked on this theory originally published in 1958 entitled “The cost of capital, Corporation finance and the theory of Investment”, received Noble Prize for their contribution. They argue cost of capital and value form remains constant irrespective of change in capital structure.
What are Modigliani&Miller’s assumptions?
Using the theory’s assumptions, Modigliani & Miller demonstrate that an arbitrage opportunity forces the values to converge. The second proposition states the company’s weighted average cost of capital is a function of the company’s business risk and will remain constant regardless of the capital structure.

What are Modigliani and Miller approach theory?
What Is the Modigliani-Miller Theorem (M&M)? The Modigliani-Miller theorem (M&M) states that the market value of a company is correctly calculated as the present value of its future earnings and its underlying assets, and is independent of its capital structure.
What are the four main assumptions of the Modigliani-Miller model?
Modigliani and Miller Assumptions. Whether you are running a small deli or a global corporation, you likely will spend a lot of time optimizing the capital structure of the firm. ... No Transaction Costs. ... Equal Borrowing Costs. ... Handling of Excess Cash.
Why is Modigliani-Miller important?
The M&M Theorem, or the Modigliani-Miller Theorem, is one of the most important theorems in corporate finance. The theorem was developed by economists Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller in 1958. The main idea of the M&M theory is that the capital structure of a company does not affect its overall value.
What are the assumptions under mm hypothesis?
MM model assumes that there are perfect capital markets. Such perfect markets do not exist in the practical world. Floatation costs: MM model assumes that there are no floatation costs and no time gaps are required in raising new equity capital.
What is not the assumption of MM approach?
Solution(By Examveda Team) All the firms pay tax on their income at the same rate is not an assumption in the Miller & Modigliani approach. The Modigliani and Miller Approach further states that the market value of a firm is affected by its operating income, apart from the risk involved in the investment.
What is a type of leverage?
There are two main types of leverage: financial and operating. To increase financial leverage, a firm may borrow capital through issuing fixed-income securities or by borrowing money directly from a lender.
What are the assumptions of MM theory of capital structure?
The Key Assumptions of M&M Theorem The investors in a perfect market are allowed to borrow at the same cost at which they lend, and they invest rationally. It is also implied that there are no transaction costs that have to be made in the process.
What are the techniques of capital structure analysis?
Important ratios used to analyze capital structure include the debt ratio, the debt-to-equity ratio, and the long-term debt to capitalization ratio. Credit agency ratings help investors assess the quality of a company's capital structure.
What is capital structure theory?
The traditional theory of capital structure says that for any company or investment there is an optimal mix of debt and equity financing that minimizes the WACC and maximizes value. Under this theory, the optimal capital structure occurs where the marginal cost of debt is equal to the marginal cost of equity.
Why is Modigliani and Miller approach unrealistic?
The MM approach assumptions are unrealistic. It assumes there are perfect capital markets that don't exist. It ignores the corporate tax and personal taxes that is not practically viable as shareholders pay taxes on the capital gain. This theory assumes there are no floatation and transaction costs which is not true.
Which of the following is true for MM model?
Q.Which of the following is not true for MM Model?B.Share price goes down if dividend is not paid,C.Market value is unaffected by Dividend policy,D.All of the aboveAnswer» c. Market value is unaffected by Dividend policy,1 more row
What is MM's Proposition 2?
What MM II says is that if you increase borrowing to get the cheaper rate, you will also increase the amount you will have to pay on your equity. In fact, the two will exactly offset leaving your (overall) weighted-average cost of capital the same.
Modigliani and Miller Approach
This approach was devised by Modigliani and Miller during 1950s. The fundamentals of Modigliani and Miller Approach resemble that of Net Operating...
Assumptions of Modigliani and Miller Approach
1. There are no taxes. 2. Transaction cost for buying and selling securities as well as bankruptcy cost is nil. 3. There is a symmetry of informati...
Modigliani and Miller Approach: Two Propositions Without Taxes
With the above assumptions of “no taxes”, the capital structure does not influence the valuation of a firm. In other words, leveraging the company...
Modigliani and Miller Approach: Propositions With Taxes (The Trade-Off Theory of Leverage)
The Modigliani and Miller Approach assumes that there are no taxes. But in the real world, this is far from the truth. Most countries, if not all,...
Who developed the Modigliani and Miller approach?
This approach was devised by Modigliani and Miller during the 1950s. The fundamentals of the Modigliani and Miller Approach resemble that of the Net Operating Income Approach. Modigliani and Miller advocate capital structure irrelevancy theory, which suggests that the valuation of a firm is irrelevant to the capital structure of a company. Whether a firm is highly leveraged or has a lower debt component in the financing mix has no bearing on the value of a firm.
What are the assumptions of Modigliani and Miller?
Assumptions of Modigliani and Miller Approach 1 There are no taxes. 2 Transaction cost for buying and selling securities, as well as the bankruptcy cost, is nil. 3 There is a symmetry of information. This means that an investor will have access to the same information that a corporation would and investors will thus behave rationally. 4 The cost of borrowing is the same for investors and companies. 5 There is no floatation cost, such as an underwriting commission, payment to merchant bankers, advertisement expenses, etc. 6 There is no corporate dividend tax.
Modigliani and Miller Theory
Modigliani and Miller commonly known as MM theory is most acceptable and widely used capital structure theory which support NOI approach and criticize the Net Income theory and Traditional theory of capital structure.
Proposition I
The market value of any firm is independent of its capital structure and is given by capitalizing its expected return at the overall capitalization rate appropriate to its risk class.
Proposition II
The expected yield of a share is equal to the appropriate capitalization rate for a pure equity stream in the class plus a premium related to financial risk equal to the debt to equity ratio times the spread between pure equity capitalization rate and debt capitalization rate.
Numerical Illustration
Two companies Apple and Samsung are Identical in every respect that Apple is unlevered and Samsung has 5 lakha of 6 percent bonds outstanding. Assume (1) that all of MM assumptions are met, (2) that there are no corporate and personal taxes, (3) EBIT is Rs 2 lakh and, (4) that the Cost of equity of Apple is 10 percent.
Arbitrage Theory (Criticism of Net Income and Traditional Approach)
MM approach suggest that if the value of firm differs due to capital structure only there exists arbitrage opportunity. It means that in this situation Investors can get opportunity to earn same level of return at remaining same level of financing risk and control position but with low investment from overvalued firm to undervalued firm.
M & M Tax
MM approach suggest that if there is tax the firm using leverage can get tax advantage because interest in tax deductible expenses that save tax for corporation. Due to this tax saving, the value of levered firm is greater than of unlevered firm. When tax is exists value of levered firm is equal to value of unlevered firm plus tax advantage.
What is MM Proposition II?
MM Proposition II (No Taxes) The cost of debt is generally less than the cost of equity. That is if a firm pays a 5% yield on its debt, it will have to earn, say, 9% on its equity. So people often assume firms should borrow to take advantage of the cheaper rate.
What did M&M contribute to?
Modigliani and Miller (MM) In a series of papers that would lead to a Nobel Prize, M&M made important contributions to understanding the relationship between a firm's capital structure, value, and cost of capital. Their main conclusions can be summarized as:
What does MM II mean?
What MM II says is that if you increase borrowing to get the cheaper rate, you will also increase the amount you will have to pay on your equity. In fact, the two will exactly offset leaving your (overall) weighted-average cost of capital the same.
Can you buy unleveraged firms on margin?
If they do, and leveraged firms are priced higher than unleveraged firms, then investors can buy the unleveraged firms on margin. By doing so investors create leveraged firms, which increases the values of these firms, earning the investors profits.
Why did MM suggest an arbitrage mechanism?
MM has suggested an arbitrage mechanism in order to prove their argument.
What is the MM hypothesis?
The MM Hypothesis reveals that if more debt is included in the capital structure of a firm, the same will not increase its value as the benefits of cheaper debt capital are exactly set off by the corresponding increase in the cost of equity, although debt capital is less expensive than the equity capital.
What is the Miller theory of capital structure?
Modigliani and Miller theories of capital structure (also called MM or M&M theories) say that (a) when there are no taxes, (i) a company’s value is not affected by its capital structure and (ii) its cost of equity increases linearly as a function of its debt to equity ratio but when (b) there are taxes, (i) the value of a levered company is always higher than an unlevered company and (ii) cost of equity increases as a function of debt to equity ratio and tax rate.
What are the M&M theories?
Modigliani and Miller’s (M&M) theories about capital structure offer a good starting point in a company’s quest for optimal capital structure. This is even though they require certain unrealistic assumptions such as: (a) existence of a totally efficient market with no transaction costs, (b) no financial distress and agency costs, (b) ability to borrow and lend at the risk-free rate, etc.
The M&M Theorem in Perfectly Efficient Markets
This is the first version of the M&M Theorem with the assumption of perfectly efficient markets.
M&M Theorem in the Real World
Conversely, the second version of the M&M Theorem was developed to better suit real-world conditions. The assumptions of the newer version imply that companies pay taxes; there are transaction, bankruptcy, and agency costs; and information is not symmetrical.
More Resources
Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to Modigliani-Miller Theorem. To keep learning and developing your knowledge of financial analysis, we highly recommend the additional CFI resources below:

Modigliani and Miller Theory
Proposition I
- The market value of any firm is independent of its capital structure and is given by capitalizing its expected return at the overall capitalization rate appropriate to its risk class. This theory also based on assumptions, and those assumptions are as follows; 1. Similar nature firms have similar operating risk 2. All earnings are distributed as dividend. 3. No existence of tax. 4. Rational Inves…
Proposition II
- The expected yield of a share is equal to the appropriate capitalization rate for a pure equity stream in the class plus a premium related to financial risk equal to the debt to equity ratio times the spread between pure equity capitalization rate and debt capitalization rate. According to this theory cost of equity linearly increase as debt ratio increase. So, Cost of equity of levered firm is …
Numerical Illustration
- Two companies Apple and Samsung are Identical in every respect that Apple is unlevered and Samsung has 5 lakha of 6 percent bonds outstanding. Assume (1) that all of MM assumptions are met, (2) that there are no corporate and personal taxes, (3) EBIT is Rs 2 lakh and, (4) that the Cost of equity of Apple is 10 percent. 1. What would MM estimate for each firm? 2. What is the value …
Arbitrage Theory
- MM approach suggest that if the value of firm differs due to capital structure only there exists arbitrage opportunity. It means that in this situation Investors can get opportunity to earn same level of return at remaining same level of financing risk and control position but with low investment from overvalued firm to undervalued firm. It can be illustrated by following example. …
M & M Tax
- MM approach suggest that if there is tax the firm using leverage can get tax advantage because interest in tax deductible expenses that save tax for corporation. Due to this tax saving, the value of levered firm is greater than of unlevered firm. When tax is exists value of levered firm is equal to value of unlevered firm plus tax advantage. There are different types taxes so, equilibrium pos…