Assignment 1: Galaxy Skis

Galaxy International is a small privately held company in the Northeast U.S. which manufactures high- tech carbon composite skis for the U.S. market. The company has been in business for 20 years, has 125 employees, and has $50 million in annual sales. Its owner, Jeremy Riven, is an ex-Olympic skier who developed the proprietary technology and bonding polymers that give Galaxy skis their unique flexibility, durability, and propensity to need low maintenance—all of which serious skiers in the U.S. have come to prize. Major costs involved in the manufacturing of skis are oil polymers, carbon fiber, and labor. Ski technicians are highly skilled machinists, and manufacturing the finished product is as much an art form as it is a science.

Jeremy has recently considered an initial public offering (IPO) to allow the firm to raise the funds it needs to go international. The underwriting group from Morgan Stanley believes they could easily raise sixty (60) million in the equity markets, and fifty (50) million in the bond market. Jeremy is trying to determine the cost of debt, the cost of equity (four [4] million shares at $15/share), and the firm’s weighted average cost of capital if he goes public and issues corporate bonds with a coupon rate of 8%. Last year, the firm resided in a 28% tax bracket. The risk-free rate in the U.S. is 2%, and the expected return on the market is 14%. Morgan Stanley estimates Galaxy’s beta, if traded publicly, would be approximately 1.8%. Galaxy has been growing at 15% a year since its inception.

Jeremy would like to expand his current U.S. facility from 40,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet, automate certain processes which heretofore have been done manually, and outsource work to China, where he plans to either build or lease a plant to extend his ski line worldwide. He could build a 50,000- square-foot facility in Canton for fifty (50) million dollars, or lease a similar facility for ten (10) million a year. Annual operating costs would be twenty (20) million dollars, and projected free cash flow, based on past experience, would be twelve (12) million a year (whether he leases or buys). The life of the plant would be fifteen (15) years, and inflation in China is currently running at 6% annually. Galaxy would repatriate profits from the Chinese operation and consolidate them with those of the U.S. operations. All expenses of operating the plant in China would be in Yuan.Use the Internet to locate information about current events in China related to its economic state.

Faculty Note: If you would like to substitute China with a different country to avoid plagiarism, please do so.

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. Examine the pros and cons of an IPO for Galaxy International. Recommend whether the company should or should not proceed with an IPO.
2. Evaluate the appropriateness of the financing alternatives and strategies that are available to Jeremy, and select the one (1) you believe best suits the company. Provide support for your rationale.
3. Determine the advantages of debt over equity, and what each would cost after taxes. Determine Galaxy’s weighted average cost of capital (WACC) if it uses both alternatives to raise capital (i.e., debt and equity).
4. Recommend one (1) financial instrument that Jeremy could use in order to ensure a stable supply of oil for his operations and to protect his firm from currency translation losses.
5. Suggest one (1) approach that Jeremy can use to hedge his currency translation and transaction exposure to the Yuan. Provide support for your suggestion.
6. Determine whether Jeremy should lease or buy the plant in China. Justify your position using information regarding the current economic state in China.
7. Imagine that you are a portfolio manager. Determine whether or not you would want to participate in the IPO if Galaxy International goes public. Provide a rationale for your decision. Determine the expected return on the stock using Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM).
8. Determine if the Galaxy International’s expected returns would exceed its WACC. Provide a rationale.
9. Use at least five (5) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites to not qualify as academic resources.