We explore the relationship between liquidity of a firm’s equity and its capital structure. Firms with more liquid stocks benefit from lower costs of equity issuance. Therefore, it is hypothesized ...that such firms are likely to have a preference for equity in their capital structure. This article empirically investigates the relationship between liquidity and capital structure decisions on a sample of Indian firms. Contrary to the existing literature, we find no empirical evidence for an inverse relationship between liquidity and leverage among Indian firms. The results are indicative of the fact that due to distinctive features of emerging markets, namely, less sophisticated capital markets, higher information asymmetry, concentrated ownership, constrained access to debt and prevalence of family owned businesses, there are other more significant determinants of capital structure that subsume the explanatory power of liquidity variables.
This study sets out a new methodology to exemplify, through a set of risk metrics called the Greeks, impact of a bond's structured provisions (e.g., call, put, and conversion options) on its risk ...characteristics and its propensity for agency conflicts. The methodology is assessed by applying it to a sample of 159 non-convertible bonds, with time-scheduled call and put provisions issued between 1977 and 2005. A structural contingent-claims valuation model is used to value the bonds and estimate the Greeks. The methodology is used to assess the impact of the call and put provisions on the bond's credit risk and interest-rate risk, as well as the provisions' ability to mitigate the agency conflict associated with over-investment, under-investment, asset-substitution, and information asymmetry about the firm's true risk among stakeholders. The main findings of this study are that the put option plays a key role in reducing credit risk, mitigating agency conflict, and protecting against volatility shocks; conversely, the call option plays a key role in reducing interest-rate risk. The methodology is sufficiently general to apply to bonds and preferred stock with any set of structured provisions.
This paper aims to create a bondholders' protection index (BPI) and to investigate what the influence of this index would be on multimarket funds' allocation in corporate bonds. Understanding this ...relation is relevant because only about 1.36% of multimarket funds' portfolios correspond to debentures. This study advances the literature by covering a topic little discussed in a Brazilian context, proposing the creation of a BPI, which would be related to the number of automatic maturity clauses, which guarantee immediate payment to bondholders in cases of the rupture of a contract. This research comprised 926 debentures series issued in Brazil from 2009 to 2017, and 1,753 multimarket funds, which allocated some portfolios' percentage in these securities. In creating the BPI, we contemplated 15 restrictive clauses, which the most common correspond to negligent business performance, liquidation, dissolution and bankruptcy, and restrictions related to company structure. Moreover, we examined less common restrictive clauses as well, including indebtedness policy, shares issuance and amortization, and ratings downgrading. Regarding data analysis, we employed multiple linear regression models, with pooled estimators, applying the standard error correction by White's robust matrix (1980). The main results suggest that BPI positively effects multimarket funds' allocation in debentures. Furthermore, this influence is more intense in indentures with higher number of clauses with automatic maturity. Thus, this study contributes to literature about restrictive clauses, since it demonstrates that debentures' flexible and adaptable structure seems to be interesting for the main bondholders in Brazil.
We find that firms reduce net debt issuance (NDI, hereafter) when industry peers with the same credit rating were downgraded in the previous year, as opposed to an average NDI increase among all ...firms. This finding is consistent with the considerations of competition and contagion associated with relative strengths and weaknesses in credit quality. The peer effect on NDI reduction is ubiquitous across both speculative- and investment-grade firms, but is particularly strong for small size firms with speculative-grade ratings, and firms operating in concentrated industries, and in times when the economy is in expansion or outside financial crises. We also find that firms reduce leverage when their ratings are lower than the industry average, and that peer firms' rating effects remain strong even when controlling for the lower-than-average effect.
In order to prevent excessive profit shifting using internal debt by multinational firms, several countries have introduced thin capitalization rules limiting the deductibility of interests on ...internal loans. While prior research has consistently found that firms affected by thin capitalization rules reduce their internal debt-to-equity ratio, the means through which this reduction is achieved are understudied. This paper employs a Comparative Interrupted Time Series methodology to identify the short-term effects of newly introduced thin capitalization rules on subsidiaries’ financing preferences, using a new dataset of detailed firm-level accounting data. The results indicate a reduction in internal debt and an increase in equity for affected firms, both by an increase in paid-up capital and by an increase in retained earnings. These findings about the way firms react may help lawmakers to estimate impact of future tax regulations.
•We find that foreign capital flows drive the US credit spread.•Foreign capital flows via credit spreads impact corporate financing and investment.•Foreign capital flows through credit spreads affect ...aggregate economic activities.•The effects of foreign capital are significant outside of the recent recession.
Previous studies have found that foreign capital flows into the US Treasury and corporate-bond markets drive US long-term interest rates. In this paper, we extend the literature by showing that (1) foreign capital flows also drive the US risk structure of interest rates (i.e., credit spreads), and (2) the impacts of foreign capital flows through the credit spread on corporate financing and investment as well as aggregate economic activities are significant, even outside of the Global Financial Crisis period.
This paper investigates the main features of the relationships between banks and non-financial firms in Italy. Based on detailed firm-level data, we analyse the role of firm-level characteristics, ...decision-making factors and local credit market indicators in shaping various aspects of corporate banking choices. Empirical results show that young and small firms have a higher probability of relationships with local banks, confirming the advantage of local credit institutions in dealing with informationally opaque firms. Large and internationally active firms tend to establish relationships with national and foreign banks, as they are able to provide more complex banking services that are crucial to access foreign markets. Moreover, firms that are more dependent on external financing are more likely to use multiple and differentiated banking relationships, as a way to diversify external financing sources and alleviate credit constraints.
► We empirically examine the determinants of bond market development in 10 East major Asian economies. ► We provide policy recommendations for further developing Asian bond market. ► Major ...determinants include the size of an economy, the stage of economic development, the openness of an economy, the size of the banking system, the exchange rate variability and the variability of interest rate.
One of the major reasons behind the Asian financial crisis in 1997 was the excessive dependence of the Asian economies on commercial banks for domestic financing. The region failed to diversify its sources of corporate financing as it relied mainly on banks since its other types of financing, namely bond markets, were still underdeveloped and their sizes were quite small. On the other hand, the 2008 global financial crisis and the ongoing European debt crisis have led to constraints in acquiring local currency and foreign currency liquidity in the corporate sector in Asia as foreign banks withdrew investments from Asia. Furthermore, Asia needs large long term capital (US$ 750 billion per year for 2010–2020) for developing infrastructure connectivity within and across its economies. Local and regional capital can be channeled for long-term infrastructure projects and other productive investment through bond markets. Having a well-developed local currency bond markets can enhance the resilience of domestic financial sector to external shocks and it can facilitate better intermediation of savings into productive investments in Asia. To enhance corporate bond financing, it is important to examine factors that affect the effective development of bond markets in Asia. The study attempts to identify the determinants of bond market development in Asian economies through examining the relationship of bond issuance with selected key financial and economic factors. It also intends to provide policy recommendations for the further development of the Asian bond market. Major determinants for bond market development in Asia include the size of an economy, the stage of economic development, the openness of an economy, the exchange rate variability, the size of the banking system, and interest rate variability.
The paper deals with innovated financing in the form of mezzanine financing instruments (sources). The authors aimed to identify, characterize, and assess mezzanine financing instruments in ...comparison to the classic corporate financing sources. Mezzanine financing represents an innovated form of financing interconnecting the features of equity and debt. The paper specifies the sources and characterizes and assesses pros and cons of each of them. Subsequently, it presents an overall evaluation of mezzanine financing instruments in comparison to the selected equity and debt financing sources. This evaluation was performed on the basis of 14 set criteria using a binary scale.
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