Collins Group
the Collins Group, a Leading Producer of Custom

Collins Group
The Collins Group, a leading producer of custom automobile accessories, has hired you to estimate the firm's weighted average cost of capital.The balance sheet and some other information are provided below.
$\begin{array}{lr}\text { Assets } \\\text { Current assets } & \$ 38,000,000 \\\text { Net plant, property, and equipment } & 101,000,000 \\\text { Total assets } & \$ 139,000,000\\\\\text { Liabilities and Equity }\\\text { Accounts payable } & \$ 10,000,000 \\\text { Accruals } & 9,000,000 \\\text { Current liabilities } & \$ 19,000,000 \\\text { Long-term debt ( } 40,000 \text { bonds, } \$ 1,000 \text { par value) } & 40,000,000 \\\text { Total liabilities } & \$ 59,000,000 \\\text { Common stock (10,000,000 shares) } & 30,000,000 \\\text { Retained earnings } & 50,000,000 \\\text { Total shareholders' equity } & \$ 0,000,000 \\\text { Total liabilities and shareholders' equity } & \$ 139,000,000\end{array}$
The stock is currently selling for $15.25 per share, and its noncallable $1,000 par value, 20-year, 7.25% bonds with semiannual payments are selling for $875.00.The beta is 1.25, the yield on a 6-month Treasury bill is 3.50%, and the yield on a 20-year Treasury bond is 5.50%.The required return on the stock market is 11.50%, but the market has had an average annual return of 14.50% during the past 5 years.The firm's tax rate is 25%.
-The cost of external equity capital raised by issuing new common stock (r_e) is defined as follows, in words: "The cost of external equity equals the cost of equity capital from retaining earnings (r_s), divided by one minus the percentage flotation cost required to sell the new stock, (1 - F)."