Difference Between Leveraged vs Unleveraged

Leveraged vs Unleveraged are two different concepts of Capital Structure, which is very important terminology in the Finance subject. Not only finance students, anyone who wants to raise capital in the future must learn the meaning for both the terms and their difference. The below information gives you an overview of Leveraged vs Unleveraged as well the major difference between these two terminologies.

Leveraged

Operating with the use of borrowed money. A leveraged portfolio has both positive as well as negative side. Talking about the negative side – Leveraged increase the company’s risk, as the Leveraged securities may result in loss and even make the company legally responsible to repay the borrowed capital. And let’s talk about the positive side – It provides the company to take advantage of the opportunity it can select with money available by the borrowed funds. It describes the company’s ability to use fixed cost funds to increase the return to the owners (i.e. Equity shareholders). Fixed Cost funds e.g. debentures, Term Loans & preference share which act as the lever i.e. helps the company to lift its amount of capital and as a result the increase in earnings of the owners of the company.

Unleveraged

Operating without using any borrowed money. Unleveraged Portfolio means the company is only using capital invested by the investors during the company formation or when investors infuse more funds in the company or purchasing the stocks of the company. These investors are the Equity Shareholders of the company. Equity shareholders have the ownership interest in the business and they have the residual claim. i.e. Claim on the residual after paying all debts and obligation. There is no legal obligation to the company to pay the equity shareholders. Addition of Unleveraged portfolio in capital reduces company’s risk but it also constrains the company’s accessibility of the money for any opportunity investments.

Leveraged vs Unleveraged Infographics

Below is the top 6 difference between Leveraged vs Unleveraged:

Key Differences Between Leveraged vs Unleveraged

As we already know, both Leveraged vs Unleveraged are the key components that differ in nature. Let us discuss some key difference between Leveraged vs Unleveraged.

• A Company can be categorized as Leveraged if it is Operating with the use of borrowed money. Whereas, A company which is operating without the use of borrowed money can be categorized as having an Unleveraged portfolio.
• A leveraged portfolio can be considered at high risk as in case of Loss, the company is liable to pay the interest to the lenders for the borrowed money. Whereas, in case of an Unleveraged portfolio is considered at low risk as the company is not liable to repay in case of Loss
• Leveraged portfolio supports the company to increase its overall capital and even provides the company to take advantage of an opportunity with available money from the borrowed funds. However, Unleveraged portfolio means the company is only using capital invested by the investors during the company formation or when investors infuse more funds in the company or purchasing the stocks of the company, this limits the capital and availability of the money for any opportunity investment.
• In the case of Leveraged, there is a legal obligation on the company to repay to the lenders. Lenders may be the Banks which have provided Term Loan or debentures or the preference shareholders. The company is liable to pay to them even in case of loss. Whereas, there is no legal obligation on the company in case of an Unleveraged portfolio to repay the equity shareholders. It completely depends on the company whether they want to pay out the dividend to the equity shareholders.
• The leveraged portfolio provides tax shield to the company, as the tax to be paid is calculated after paying the interest for the Term loans, debentures or Bonds, which reduces the amount of tax to be paid. Whereas there is no such benefit available for the company’s having Unleveraged portfolio.
• The leveraged portfolio provides the lenders the benefit of claim on assets first in case of insolvency. The lenders will be paid the borrowed amount first if the company announce them as bankrupt. The company has to settle down the borrowed amount, even if they have sold off their assets. In case of the company having an Unleveraged portfolio, equity shareholders have also claimed, but on residual. i.e. Claim on the residual after paying all debts and obligation. In the case of Insolvency, the company has to pay the equity shareholders after settling all the obligation.
• A leveraged portfolio can be a combination of equity with Fixed cost funds. The fixed cost funds can be Term Loan, Debentures, Bonds or Preference shareholders. Whereas Unleveraged portfolio is only constituting equity. The equity can be the capital invested by the investors during the company formation or else someone purchases the stocks of the company.

Head To Head Comparisons Between Leveraged vs Unleveraged

Below Is The Topmost Comparison between Leveraged vs Unleveraged:

Leveraged vs Unleveraged – Final Thoughts

After reading the above information, we can easily differentiate between Leveraged vs Unleveraged. Leveraged can be a good option for increasing the overall capital for a company but it should be under the paying capacity of the company. There are many ways Company can opt for an Unleveraged portfolio. If a company have a good bottom line, i.e., Profitable and have the ability to repay the lenders then they should include Unleveraged portfolio as it provides tax shield to the company. This also depends on the risk-taking ability if the company is risk-averse then it will opt for the Unleveraged portfolio. Both have their pros and cons; the company must select it as per their requirements after analyzing both the aspects.

If you have an interest in Finance and want to work in the Financial Sector in the future, then you should know the difference between Leveraged vs Unleveraged. This is the most import topic of Finance which is used for cost analysis and project evaluation and Strategy implementation for the long run.

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