The Power Of Compounding

We hope you have learned about the power of compounding by now. If not, consider your future retirement. How much of your salary do you need to save in order to replace your pre-retirement income? Somewhere between 4 and 44 percent of your salary! If you start saving at 25 and retire at 70, you only need to save 4 percent of your salary, but if you wait to start saving until you are 45 and want to retire at 62, you will have to save 44 percent of your salary. That is quit a big difference and shows the power of compounding.

Beer Bonds

Bonds do not necessarily have to pay cash coupons. A bond by Scottish brewery BrewDog highlights this point. BrewDog is considering a new bond issue that would have a 6 percent coupon, paid out as 3 percent in cash and 3 percent in craft beer. If you have buy one of these bonds, you would get a cash payment, a coupon for £20 in BrewBucks redeemable at the company's bars, a free book, and a free beer on your birthday each year you are a bondholder. Cheers! 

The Popularity of BBB Bonds

S&P, one of the major bonds rating agencies, has categorized bonds by credit ratings, and BBB bonds compose the largest chunk of corporate bonds. BBB bonds account for $3.2 trillion, or 53 percent of the outstanding investment grade bonds. Total BBB corporate debt, including term loans and revolving credit facilities, tops $7 trillion. One risk with this much debt just above the junk level is that an economic downturn could result in a large part of this debt being downgraded to junk status.

A Southwest Acquisition?

Southwest, which is known for its all 737 fleet, reportedly lost out on $175 million in income during the second quarter due to the continued grounding of the 737 Max. So how is Southwest to grow? There is speculation that the way to growth may be the acquisition of another airline such as Spirit or JetBlue. This would allow Southwest to rapidly increase fleet size and diversification as other airlines' fleets include Airbus jets. So what does one analyst think about this possibility? A Stifel analyst downgraded Southwest stock on speculation of an acquisition, an indication that any possible acquisition will be over-priced.

Fiat Chrysler/Peugeot Synergies

Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot have announced a 50/50 merger, with sales of $190 billion for the combined company. A key reason for the merger is an annual cost savings of $4.1 billion from “a more efficient allocation of resources for large-scale investments in vehicle platforms, powertrain, and technology and from the enhanced purchasing capability inherent in the combined group’s new scale.” As with most mergers or acquisitions, whether they synergies are realized will be an important determinant of whether the merger is successful.

Corning Wins Cash Gold

Corning recently won the Gold Award in liquidity management from Treasury & Risk. In 2015, the company announced its Capital Allocation Framework, designed to reduce its $5.5 billion in cash by one-half. The company generates one-third of its revenue in Asia, which is where much of the cash was tied up. Thanks to the formation of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, Corning was able to pool its cash, allowing for more flexibility in cash management. Better cash management practices have allowed Corning to reduce its cash balance to about $1.2 billion as of June 2019.

M&A Checklist

In the textbook, we discuss how to value an acquisition. But what are the some considerations in the valuation of the target? The recent acquisition of Wells Fargo's retirement and trust business by Principal can give you some insight. For example, Principal had to consider whether recent problems at Wells Fargo had extended into the retirement area. Additionally, future revenues from the acquisition depend on how many of the current customers stay when the acquisition is complete. In this case, a payment will be made in two years contingent on the percentage of current customers of Wells Fargo remain at that time.

Finally, an important consideration is the cultural fit between the two companies. The value of the synergies, as well as the continuation of the current cash flows of the target company into the future, often depend on culture. If employees of the target company are thrust into a new culture, it may lead to an exodus of employees, resulting in a decrease in ongoing cash flows as well as reducing expected synergies. A culture clash was allegedly a major cause of why the AOL-Time Warner mergerflopped so badly.