=+"The consultants I spoke to yesterday explained that some academic theorists advance the idea that, if your objective is the maximisation of shareholder wealth, the debt to equity ratio does not matter. However, they did comment that this conclusion held in a world of no taxes. Even more strangely, these theorists say that in a world with tax it is best to "gear-up" a company as high as possible. Now I may not know much about academic theories but I do know that there are limits to the debt level which is desirable. After listening to these consultants I am more confused than ever.'