Size Premium

Cost of Capital

Turkish: Büyüklük Primi

Short definition

A size premium is the extra return small firms are assumed to require above CAPM. The evidence is contested; it must not double-count the same risk already in an illiquidity discount or noisy beta.

Detailed explanation

Source tables (e.g. US small-cap series) do not transplant cleanly onto a thin Turkish market. In a control-stake valuation, size premium and minority/illiquidity discounts should not stack the same risk.

If beta is already inflated on a thin index, adding SP overstates Ke. If a premium is used, write the source, currency and why it is counted once.

Why it matters for the CFO

Adding 2–3 points of “small company” to Ke in a listing report cuts EV materially. The committee should ask whether the premium is separate from an illiquidity discount.

How it is calculated

Ke ≈ Rf + β × ERP + SP (SP, likidite primi ile çift sayılmamalı)

Variables in the formula

  • SP: Size (small-cap) premium

How to read it

SP of 2 points lifts Ke by 2 points when β×ERP is unchanged. There is no universal small-cap premium; thinness, control and the data set set it.

Numerical example

CAPM Ke 22%, applied SP 2 percentage points (no illiquidity discount) → Ke = 24%.

Related calculators

Güven Sayılgan’s writing on this topic

Read these first

What to learn next

  1. Cost of Equity
  2. Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
  3. Equity Risk Premium (ERP)
  4. Illiquidity Discount
  5. Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)

Definitions are educational. They are not investment, credit or tax advice.