Publix, one of the largest grocery store chains in the Southeast, is considering going public. You are estimating the weighted average cost of capital of Publix and have determined that Kroger is a good comparable firm. Kroger currently has debt of $10 billion, market capitalization of $30 billion, and an equity beta of 0.54. Publix plans to target a leverage ratio of 0.50 after it goes public. Using Kroger as a comparable, what is a good estimate of the equity beta of Publix?

A. 0.41 B. 0.54 C. 0.72 D. 0.81