I study Finance, and this is very useful. Here is some more advice too:
- Link equity financing to:
- Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) – when a firm first lists on the stock market to raise capital.
- Seasoned Equity Offerings (SEOs) – when an already listed firm issues additional shares.
- Both typically increase the number of shares outstanding, leading to share dilution (reduced ownership percentage and possibly lower EPS for existing shareholders).
- Firms can also issue shares through:
- Rights issues – existing shareholders are offered new shares, usually at a discount, to maintain their ownership proportion.
- Bonus (scrip) issues – free additional shares given to shareholders; no new cash is raised, but total shares increase, so dilution still occurs in value terms
- Be aware of financing restrictions often written into legal agreements:
- Covenants may restrict additional borrowing or equity issuance.
- Dividend restrictions can limit payouts to preserve cash for debt servicing.
- Asset disposal restrictions prevent firms from selling key assets without lender approval.
- These are designed to protect creditors and control risk-taking by management
- Always evaluate financing choices using the risk–return trade-off:
- More debt → lower cost (as creditors are repaid first when a company goes into liquidation) but higher financial risk (gearing/leverage) - this can limit the firm’s liquidity due to interest payments on debt
- More equity → safer balance sheet but higher cost of capital and potential dilution.