Full Access CIMA F3 Tutorials

Pre-acquisition:

Company X: earnings = $50m, P/E = 10 → value = 50 × 10 = $500m; shares = 100m → price = $5

Company Y: earnings = $15m, P/E = 10 → value = 15 × 10 = $150m; shares = 50m → price = $3

Combined earnings = 50 + 15 = $65m

Post-acquisition assumptions:

Earnings increase by 10% → 65 × 1.10 = $71.5m

Combined P/E remains 10 → total market value = 71.5 × 10 = $715m

We want X’s new share price to be 10% higher than $5 → target price = $5.50.

Share price = total value ÷ total X shares after issue:

5.50=715Total shares⇒Total shares=7155.5=130m5.50 = \frac{715}{\text{Total shares}} \Rightarrow \text{Total shares} = \frac{715}{5.5} = 130\text{m}5.50=Total shares715​⇒Total shares=5.5715​=130m

X currently has 100m shares, so must issue 30m new shares to Y’s shareholders.

Y has 50m shares → each Y share must get:

30m50m=0.6 X shares per Y share\frac{30m}{50m} = 0.6 \text{ X shares per Y share}50m30m​=0.6 X shares per Y share

Check options:

B: 3 X for 5 Y → 3/5 = 0.6 X per Y ✔

So that exchange ratio gives exactly 30m new X shares and hence a 10% increase in X’s share price.

Correct answer: B – 3 shares in Company X for 5 shares in Company Y.

Two percentage adjustments are to be made to the proxy P/E ratio:

20% reduction because Company K is unlisted (unlisted companies usually trade at a discount).

15% increase because Company K has better growth prospects than the proxy (higher growth → higher P/E).

In exam-style CIMA F3 questions, unless stated otherwise, these adjustments are usually treated additively:

Net adjustment = +15% − 20% = −5%, i.e. a 5% decrease in the proxy P/E ratio.

So the total adjustment is a 5% decrease.

A. Equity instead of debt reduces financial risk → ✅ True

B. Equity will create pressure for higher future DPS → too strong / not necessarily always → ❌

C. Debt always increases EPS → only if returns > cost of debt → ❌

D. Retained earnings is the cheapest form of equity finance (no issue costs) → ✅ True

E. More debt → higher financial risk → higher cost of equity (MM with gearing) → ✅ True

F. Debt is always preferable → clearly ❌

Correct three:

A, D, E\boxed{A,\ D,\ E}A, D, E​

The value of a call option increases when:

The underlying share price increases

The strike price decreases

The time to expiry increases

Volatility increases

Risk-free rate increases

Looking at the options:

A. Increase in strike price → reduces call value

B. Decrease in volatility → reduces call value

C. Increase in time to expiry → increases call value ✅

D. Decrease in share price → reduces call value

Answer: C. An increase in the time to expiry.