The Importance of Capital Investment and Debt Financing in Deriving Shareholders’ Value; A Literature Survey

Abstract

Shareholders’ value is the most important goal and an integral part of the companies’ strategic decision-making process. When a corporate performs well and creates value for its shareholders, it benefits the whole economy. The past studies concluded that efficient decision making in the areas of capital investments and debt financing can ensure high financial performance and shareholders’ value creation. This paper thoroughly reviews the literature on impact of capital investment and debt financing decisions on shareholders’ value. Capital investment is a very important managerial decision because it increases company's economic profit. However, past studies have found that not every time the capital investment results in increasing the value as it may vary with the level of investment. Moreover, debt financing lowers the free cash flows due to the payment of fixed interest payments, thus lowering shareholders' return and value. Therefore, this paper recommends the need of further research to better understand the effect of capital investment and debt financing decisions on shareholders’ value.