Groupe Ariel S.A: Parity Conditions and Cross-Border Valuation
Abstract
This case discusses Cross-Border valuation of projects. This kind of analysis is common for companies that are operating in many countries. Groupe Ariel is one such company that is considering investing in a project in its own subsidiary in Mexico. The company manufactures and sells printers, copiers and other document production equipment in many countries. As far as, expansion into new markets is concerned, company is very slow in taking initiatives as compared to its competitors owing to the recent recession. But the management of the company believes that better durability and lower after-sales service costs of their products enable the company to build customer loyalty. The company is now considering replacing the manual equipment used for recycling in Mexico by new equipment that requires less material and labour costs. But, the uncertainty linked with certain macroeconomic factors like exchange rate, inflation and interest rate has made the valuation of the project very complex.
Compute the NPV of Ariel-Mexico’s recycling equipment by counting incremental peso cash flows at a peso interest rate. How should this NPV be translated into Euros? Assume expected future inflation for France is 3% per year.
For the purpose of calculating NPV in Pesos, incremental cash flows of the project for the next 10 years should be calculated first. The initial outflow of cash flow at time “0” is the cost of new equipment. This cost is 3500,000 Pesos. The cash value of 175,000 Pesos obtained by selling the manual equipment should be subtracted from this amount to come up with the net out flow. As far as, the inflows of cash for next 10 years are concerned, they can be calculated by taking the difference of the cost of operating both manual and new equipments. The tax savings owing to the depreciation of the new equipment can be calculated by multiplying the corporate tax rate