Saffron Industries most recent balance sheet reports total assets of $$42,000,000,$ total liabilities of $$16,000,000$ and total equity of $$26,000,000.$ Management is considering using $$3,000,000$ of excess cash to prepay $$3,000,000$ of outstanding bonds. What effect, if any, would prepaying the bonds have on the company's debt$-$to$-$equity ratio?

Multuple Cholce