*** ACCA P4 March 2018 Exam was.. Instant Poll and comments ***

This is the mark allocation I remember:

Question 1)
Director A/B proposal and what synergy benefits Director B had? (9 marks)
Use of real options for a more accurate valuation ( 5 marks)
Report structure/presentation (4 marks)
Current value of equity (6 marks)
Combined value of equity (11 marks)
Implications and whether should take on acquisition (7 marks)
Mandatory bid, principle of fair treatment, poison pill and Crown jewels (8 marks)

Question 2)
Apv calculation (17 marks)
Discussion on convertible loan notes and whether they are the better option compared to subsidised loan ( 8 marks)

Question 4)
Forward and Mmh (9 marks)
Netting into CHF (7 marks)
Advantage of netting (3 marks)
Whether a market based transfer price is a better option than a fixed price + mark up (6 marks)

There was definitely another part in the Q4 , advantages of a centralised treasury department for 5 marks or so ? But I can’t get it to fit into 25 marks

Dear all.

Could you please tell me:
How intercompany were implemented in calculation in Q1?

Where 30% premium to Equity value of target had to be used?
Thanks in advance!

(My 1st P paper, 1st attempt. Qs attempted q1,2,4. 4th was OK. I’ve converted to CHF at higher of the spread of spot rates)

Hello guys.. can anyone tell me what was the weighted average asset beta that you got ?

I forgot how to do that i have no idea how.. so i just used 1.42 to proceed..

This is my last acca paper and i am completely shattered with how my exam went. The paper over all was very manageable and i had a very strong grip on all the questions.. due to time constraints i lagged behind severely. I chose question 2 and 4 as i was very good at Apv.. But sadly i wasnt able to complete that question..

I couldnt attempt around 18 marks in that question

8 marks was allocated for q1 mandatory bid question. Also you Wld use FCF to firm method to calculate to arrive at the company value and later take out the equity value which is 60% of the firm value

@bshah1989 said:
For what seemed to be straight forward questions I think it was a shame not to have done well.

Panic city.

Did anyone get the equity value of the target to be 1,556m?

And was the combined equity value lower than the equity value of the main firm?

Best

1,556m looks very familiar as well as value of the combined company of 14,551m from the lower reply.

And yes, I obtained combined equity value lower than stand-alone value of the main firm.

Thanks, good luck for your score.

This was my 2nd attempt which I found much easier that Dec’17 one. The Qs were fair and straight forward BUT time… it was an issue, have not done all, left out 20 marks yet hope the script would be enough to pass and become ACCA qualified 😀

Good luck to all

Much better than Dec 2017 exam. Got 46 in december. Hoping to pass this time.

@irynazakliuka said:
This was my 2nd attempt which I found much easier that Dec’17 one. The Qs were fair and straight forward BUT time… it was an issue, have not done all, left out 20 marks yet hope the script would be enough to pass and become ACCA qualified 😀

Good luck to all

Good luck Iryna, all the best hope you pass. My final exam too.

@alexcap said:
Similar situation here – P4 being last exam . Also ended up with 8 mark part of APV question unfinished as run out of time.
What i did was that i calculated combined asset beta by using individual asset betas ( provided), 12600 equity value of the acquirer ( has been provided either ) and equity of the target ( calculated at the 6 mark part ). ( by sticking all that into that formula similar to wacc) . Then , proceeded by calculating combined equity beta by using combined asset beta and 70:30 debt to equity ratio ( or the other way round) as it’s been mentioned as applicable for the combined company . And finally calculated cost of equity and Wacc in a usual may. Not sure. That looked like the only way to me.

Yeah that’s what I did too, I spent a lot of time think the 12600 was the number of shares until I read it a couple of times though. Good luck to you.

My calculated WACC was 9% too, and the acquisition was not beneficial. Should the issue with the have been included in some calculations.

The value of the target was 968m, but obviously I made a mistake somewhere. I think equity was 40% for the target company.

Could someone please confirm if you need to get at least 50% (25 marks) in question 1 (compulsory) in order to get a pass?

In other words, if you get less than 25 marks in question 1 but overall it is more than 50 marks then would ACCA marginally fail you at 49 or still give you a pass?