Bethlehem Steel, one of the oldest and largest steel companies in the United States, is considering the question of whether it has any excess debt capacity. The firm has $527 million in market value of debt outstanding and $1.76 billion in market value of equity. The firm has earnings before interest and taxes of $131 million and faces a corporate tax

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rate of 36%. The companys bonds are rated BBB, and the cost of debt is 8%. At this rating, the firm has a probability of default of 2.30%, and the cost of bankruptcy is expected to be 30% of firm value.

Estimate the unlevered value of the firm.

Estimate the levered value of the firm, using the APV approach, at a debt ratio of

50%. At that debt ratio, the firms bond rating will be CCC, and the probability of default will increase to 46.61%.