Setting the WACC in Low Interest Environments: Bridging Theory and Practice
27 January, webinar
10:00am - 3:00pm CET
ETNO and The Florence School of Regulation Communications and Media organise a joint seminar to explore concrete theoretical and empirical questions related to WACC setting in regulated environments and to gather views from a diverse set of stakeholders.
The Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) is commonly used to assess the profitability of an investment or to value assets or companies. It is a key financial parameter in corporate decision-making. In regulated environments, such as the telco or the energy sectors, sectoral regulators set the WACC, mostly for cost-oriented products, and it is an important component of the pricing of such products. It is hence of utmost importance that WACC values used by the regulators are set at an appropriate level to provide the right incentives for regulated entities and their competitors, and more broadly for the consumers.
The Seminar will be divided into two parts: the first explores the methodological issues concerning the setting of WACC in the telecoms sector, while the second focuses on potential challenges to its application in the future.
Programme
10.00 - 10.30 Stephen Howard | Partner, Communications Chambers
10.30 - 12.00 Panel I: Setting WACC in the Telecoms Sector: Methodology
Moderator: Anna Pisarkiewicz | Research Fellow, EUI
Panellists:
- Annegret Groebel | Chair of the working group ‘remedies’, BEREC/ Director of International Relations, BNetzA
- Daniel Kapp | Senior Team Lead, Capital markets, Directorate General Monetary Policy, ECB
- Silas Norbjerg | Case Handler, Unit B3, Markets, DG CNECT European Commission
- Richard Stehle | Professor, Humboldt University
- Fadhel Lakhoua | Director, EU and Economics, Regulatory Affairs, Orange
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch break
13.00 - 15.00 Roundtable
The future of WACC
Moderator: Philippe Defraigne | Director, Cullen International
Speakers:
- Kamila Kloc | Deputy Director, Head of Unit B.3 | Markets, DG CNECT, European Commission
- Erzsébet Fitori | Group Head of EU Affairs and Relations, Vodafone
- Ulrich Hege | Professor, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE)
- Brian Williamson | Partner, Communications Chambers
- Fernando Cordero | Equity Research Analyst, Executive Director, Grupo Santander
You can register at this link .
