Optimal Kapitalstruktur : En studie av de tio största svenska börsbolagen

Sammanfattning: Publicly traded companies that are facing new investments have to decide what capital structure to chose. Financing through equity, debt or a mixture of these constitute an important choice since this decision convey several other aspects. A good choice can result in a lower average capital cost, a better owner-structure and less risk. On the other hand a bad decision can result in higher yields than necessary, and that the companies going concern and future commitments are being questioned. This thesis has been narrowed down to the top ten largest companies on the Stockholms Stock Exchange, excluding the finacial institutions. Secondary data from the annual reports has been analysed to evaluate the presence of the theories in question: The Modigliani Miller theorem, the Trade-off theorem and finally the Pecking-order theorem. The data has been compounded both by calculations and by graphical illustrations in order to give a foreseeable image of the results and conclusions taken. Further more the fact that Swedish companies often are regarded as not using their ability to take on debt enough is discussed and analysed in dept. The thesis shows that the ten Swedish companies are close to their optimal cost of capital. In neither of the cases there was a difference greater than 50 basis points, and in most cases the spreads were less than 10 points off. However, no show of evidence for the use of pecking order or the trade-off theory could be found. The ten companies on which the thesis has been based on are the following: Asea Brown Boveri, Atlas Copco, AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Hennes & Mauritz, Sandvik, Scania, Svenska Cellulosa AB, Telia Sonera, Volvo Lastvagnar.