| Abstract: | This paper shows that an option to recapitalize with debt accelerates the exercise of a real option to start an irreversible project investment. The debt-recapitalization add-on, while not directly affecting project cash flows, influences the timing of the project start by offering an extra gain from tax savings less debt costs. This finding demonstrates that capital structure decisions are closely linked to project investment decisions, a deviation from the standard optimal investment rule of the real option theory. |
