《《Case Midland Energy Resources Inc.》.pdf

4129 J U N E 1 9 , 2 0 0 9 T I M O T H Y A . L U E H R M A N J O E L L . H E I L P R I N Midland Energy Resources, Inc.: Cost of Capital In late January 2007, Janet Mortensen, senior vice president of project finance for Midland Energy Resources, was preparing her annual cost of capital estimates for Midland and each of its three divisions. Midland was a global energy company with operations in oil and gas exploration and production (EP), refining and marketing (RM), and petrochemicals. On a consolidated basis, the firm had 2006 operating revenue and operating income of $248.5 billion and $42.2 billion, respectively. Estimates of the cost of capital were used in many analyses within Midland, including asset appraisals for both capital budgeting and financial accounting, performance assessments, MA proposals, and stock repurchase decisions. Some of these analyses were performed at the division or business unit level, while others were executed at the corporate level. Midland’s corporate treasury staff had begun preparing annual cost of capital estimates for the corporation and each division in the early 1980s. The estimates produced by treasury were often criticized, and Midland’s division presidents and controllers sometimes challenged specific assumptions and inputs. In 2002, Mortensen, then a senior analyst reporting to the CFO, was asked to es