Despite its prominent role in firms' external financing, debt is highly underrepresented in the academic literature, compared to equity financing (Cumming, 2016). This thesis investigates corporate debt under diverse bankruptcy regulation in Europe (Chapter 1), as well as benefits arising from debt renegotiation among US firms (Chapter 2 and 3). The first study examines whether corporate borrowing responds to the strength of creditor rights, which differ greatly across countries. We use a difference-in-differences (DiD) methodology around an EU-wide bankruptcy reform in 2002 as an exogenous shock that reshaped the institutional environment for corporate debtors and their creditors in Europe. Our findings suggest that subsidiaries in the EU decrease their leverage when they are exposed to less creditor-friendly regimes after 2002, while there is hardly any impact on leverage when shifting to an equally creditor-friendly regime, and even less so when shifting to a more creditor-friendly one. We conclude that the legal environment under which credit is granted matters for firms' access to finance. The following two studies take a closer look into the bank-firm relationship during which renegotiations of existing loans are frequently observed. While the area of private debt renegotiation (among healthy firms) is not very well researched so far, this is the first study to link between loan renegotiation and firms' credit rating (Chapter 2) and firms' adjustments toward capital structure targets (Chapter 3). Firms' credit rating is important as it determines the rate firms have to pay for private debt and it governs capital requirements of lenders (Basel II and III). The study shows a positive impact on a firm's credit ratings whenever there was a loan amendment in the month prior to the rating update. Amending loans after the initial loan contract therefore carries signalling power to the capital market (in line with existing literature) and implies benefits to both borrowers and lenders. The third study finds an additional beneficial effect of loan amendments for firms. We investigate whether loan amendments might serve as a channel available to firms to speed up their adjustments toward capital structure targets. Against a broad range of alternative leverage target definitions used in the capital structure literature recently, loan amendments tend to accelerate firms' speed of adjustments by up to 10.6 percent points within twelve months after the loan has been amended (in addition to firms' general speed of adjustment). Therefore, our studies provide evidence for additional, novel benefits of corporate debt renegotiation which encourages firms to update and optimise financial contract design even after origination.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Monica Sciascia Magalhaes Bressan.pdf: 407893 bytes, checksum: 5e54dbcba89f05256fa267221eb1f3c1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-05 / The objective of this paper is analyse the relationship between members of the board linked to banking institutions on the capital structure of non-financial brazilian companies. The nomination of a director related with commercial bank (financial interlocking) brings some advantages to the company related to its financial expertise or even facilitates the access to capital by reducing the cost of monitoring, but can create conflict of interests between shareholders and the director. Using accounting data and information about the characteristics of board members with banking relationship in the period from 2005 to 2008, this paper investigates, through analysis of panel data, the relation between the presence of the director related with banking institutions and the levels of capital structure. However, the results do not indicate a significant relation between the members of the board related with banks on the capital structure of these companies. / O objetivo deste trabalho é examinar a relação entre os membros do conselho de administração ligados a instituições bancárias sobre a estrutura de capital das companhias brasileiras não financeiras de capital aberto. A nomeação de um conselheiro ligado a banco comercial (financial interlocking), apesar de trazer algumas vantagens para a companhia relacionadas à sua expertise financeira ou mesmo a facilidade de acesso ao capital pela diminuição dos custos de monitoramento, pode gerar conflito entre os interesses dos acionistas e os desse conselheiro. Usando variáveis contábeis e relacionadas às características dos membros dos conselhos relacionados com instituições bancárias do período de 2005 a 2008, investigou-se através de análise de dados em painel a relação da presença de membros do conselho de administração com ligação com instituição bancária e os indicadores de endividamento da empresa. No entanto, os resultados obtidos não podem ser considerados significativos para validar a hipótese de existência de relação entre os membros do conselho de administração ligados a instituições bancárias sobre a estrutura de capital dessas companhias.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thiago Castiglia Gatti.pdf: 865379 bytes, checksum: 72d11f80acf5e86560d2bb8bc2b10a48 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-15 / This dissertation focused on studying the relationship between business risk and leverage of Brazilian companies. To this end, six variables were used to represent the business risk (standard deviation of ROA, standard deviation of log of sales,standard deviation of changes in operating income, the unlevered beta, the cyclicality and the operating leverage) and five index of debt (total debt, short term debt, longterm debt, financial debt and net debt) calculated at their book and market values. The method used in the study for the treatment of the data was the panel data and the model that was used to estimate was the static panel. Among the results obtained by the regressions performed, some to be emphasized were the negative relationship of the standard deviation of ROA with financial debts and net debts, the negative relationship of the standard deviation of the log of sales and the standard deviation of the change in operating income with variables of debt in book value and the unlevered beta negative relationship with the variables of debt in market value.This study concluded that the risk of business is relevant to decisions about the capital structure of companies. / Esta dissertação teve como foco estudar a relação entre o risco do negócio e o endividamento das empresas brasileiras. Para este fim, foram usadas seis variáveis para representar o risco de negócio (desvio padrão do ROA, do log das vendas, da variação da receita operacional, o beta desalavancado, o grau de ciclicidade e o grau de alavancagem operacional) e cinco índices de endividamento (endividamento total, endividamento de curto prazo, endividamento de longo prazo, dívida financeira e divida liquida) calculados em seus valores contábeis e de mercado. O método utilizado no trabalho para o tratamento dos dados foi o painel de dados e foi usado o modelo de estimação de painel estático. Dentre os resultados obtidos pelas regressões realizadas, alguns a serem destacados foram a relação negativa do desvio padrão do ROA com as dividas financeira e liquida, a relação negativa do desvio padrão do log das vendas e do desvio padrão da variação da receita operacional com as variáveis de endividamento em valor contábil e a relação negativa do beta desalavancado com as variáveis de endividamento em valor de mercado. Este trabalho concluiu que o risco de negócio é relevante para as decisões sobre a estrutura de capital da empresas.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio Reinaldo Brandao.pdf: 1429670 bytes, checksum: 839347b8bb1037993c2cb911c18f0af0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-13 / Brazilian football is going through a time of great transformation in search of better professional management, transparency and modernity. The study of the national debt of clubs, aim of this work is a subject little explored in the academic and undoubtedly will be very important for its proper management occurs without trauma this expected and necessary transformation, especially by the fact that in less than two years, Brazil will host the World Cup-2014. Bulky investments are much needed at this stage that the works are, and how to afford all this without a rigorous and systematic reorganization of debt clubs. We conducted tests on eight (8) independent variables looking up explanation for three (3) dependent variables, one at a time, through Gamma regression model with logarithmic link function. For the dependent variable, Total Debt, was detected through a good explanation of operating income of clubs, ie the better the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) less the degree of indebtedness. For the dependent variable, Bank Indebtedness, the explanation also fell in reverse investment in fixed assets, which would say that the higher this type of investment would lower the debt with banks, and finally to the bank debt added to the tax found explanation is estimated by least squares, with the correction of heteroscedasticity , the independent variables Fixed Assets, EBITDA, Independent Audits of international groups, and investment in training athletes. / O futebol brasileiro passa por um momento de grande transformação na busca de melhor gestão profissional, transparência e modernidade. O estudo do endividamento dos clubes nacionais, objetivo do presente trabalho, é um assunto pouco explorado nos meios acadêmicos e sem dúvida será muito importante que sua boa gestão ocorra sem traumas nesta esperada e necessária transformação, sobretudo pelo fato de que em menos de dois anos, o Brasil sediará a Copa do Mundo-2014. Investimentos volumosos são muito necessários no atual estágio que se encontram as obras, e como bancar tudo isto sem que haja um saneamento rigoroso e sistemático do endividamento dos clubes. Efetuou-se testes com oito (8) variáveis independentes buscando-se explanação para três (3) variáveis dependentes, uma de cada vez, através do modelo de regressão Gamma com função de ligação logarítmica. Para a variável dependente, Endividamento Total, detectou-se uma boa explicação através do resultado operacional dos clubes, ou seja, quanto melhor o EBITDA, menor o grau de endividamento. Para a variável dependente, Endividamento Bancário, a explicação recaiu também de forma inversa no investimento em Ativo Fixo, o que valeria afirmar que quanto maior este tipo de investimento menor seria a dívida com bancos, e finalmente para a dívida bancária adicionada à tributária, encontrou-se explicação através da estimativa de mínimos quadrados, com a correção da heteroscedasticidade, nas variáveis independentes Ativo Fixo, EBITDA, Auditorias Independentes de grupos internacionais, e investimentos na Formação de Atletas.

This paper investigates the effects of going public on firm innovation by comparing the innovation activities of firms that go public with firms that choose to not undergo an initial public offering (IPO) and remain privately held. Going public here is a transformation of a privately held firm into a public firm, i.e. the first time for the firm to publicly trade in stock markets. The combination of a propensity score matching (PSM) and a difference-in-difference (DiD) methods are adopted to measure the innovation trends in terms of patent applications. Using the patent-based metric, firm innovation increases following IPOs. Comparing to the innovation activities of privately held peers, going public can boost the patent growth rate of firms and delay the downward trend of patent growth in the two years following IPOs.

本研究之主要目的在探討台灣電子業與紡纖業上市公司資本結構的影響因素，及兩產業上市公司可能之最適資本結構範圍。經由理論與國內外學者專家之相關研究，並考量資料蒐集之限制，歸納出下列九項所欲研究之影響因素：獲利能力、營運風險、公司規模、資產抵押價值、股利發放率、成長性、非負債稅盾、企業產品獨特性、外界機構投資人持股比例，並驗證公司的融資行為是否符合融資順位理論。 　　本研究以台灣資訊電子業與紡纖業上市公司為研究對象，研究期間為民國七十九年至八十三年，二產業的樣本分別選取三十七與四十一家上市公司，主要的資料來源為「台灣經濟新報」上市公司財務報表資料庫、「台灣證券交易所上市證券發行公司財務資料彙編」、上市證券發行公司公開說明書。主要研究方法如下： 　　1. 首先使用簡單敘述統計分析，瞭解兩產業樣本在各研究變數上之屬性，作為後面實證分析之參考。 　　2. 利用相關分析與簡單迴歸分析，探討各影響因素與負債比率變動的相關性，並以F-test來檢定迴歸係數的顯著性。 　　3. 以橫斷面多元迴歸分析及逐步迴歸分析驗證影響資本結構的因素。本研究屬於對現有財務結構理論之實證工作。並以逐步迴歸分析建立本研究之最佳迴歸模式。 　　4. 運用單因子變異數分析檢定兩產業間財務結構與營運風險是否有顯著差異。 　　5. 運用集群分析將樣本公司劃分為高、低負債比率二群，接著以變異數分析探討兩群體間股東權益報酬率、權益風險。 　　6. 以問卷調查分析樣本廠商在籌措資金時，對於其資本結構所採取的作法為何？同時觀察廠商在融資作法與決策上，所考慮的影響因素為何。 　　實證結果顯示： 　　1. 電子業上市公司負債比率之最佳解釋變數為獲利能力、公司規模、資產抵押價值、股利發放率、非負債稅盾，紡纖業上市公司為獲利能力、營運風險、公司規模。 　　2. 兩產業上市公司間之負債比率與營運風險並無顯著差異。 　　3. 紡纖業上市公司財務結構較佳者其股東權益報酬率有較佳之表現，電子業上市公司高、低槓桿間之股東權益報酬率無顯著差異。 　　4. 由多項式趨勢線觀察出，電子業與紡纖業上市公司負債比率維持在0.3188至0.3859之間、0.3028至0.3227之間者，對應之ROE較高。 　　5. 在回收樣本中，有69.7%的公司偏好融資順位方式，只有45.45%選擇維持一目標資本結構。問卷結果顯示內部資金為最優先選擇，財務規劃準則比資本結構決策更重要，公司或個人所得稅及槓桿關聯成本並非樣本公司的管理者在決定融資組合時的主要考慮因素。

本研究針對民國78年至82年，共計5年間，台灣證券市場上市公司，有第一次發放現金股利，或現金增資發行新股，或發放＞＝25%股票股利公司為研究對象。所謂第一次發放現金股利，係指一公司公開股票上市以來，第一次發放現金股利，或至少間隔三年以來之發放現金股利。 　　運用事件研究法之單一市場模式分析異常報酬，並以資產貝他與盈餘變動指標衡量事業風險。主要探討事件宣告前後二年公司盈餘或事業風險之變化，及市場投資人對宣告事件之解析與反映。依據訊號發射假說「經理人可能會透過財務政策，將某些訊息傳達給市場，如資本結構改變或股利政策」，而管理當局與投資人間之資訊不對稱現象，因訊號可降低代理成本，使得股利發放含有資訊內容。 　　而本研究所獲結論如下： 　　一、「第一次發放現金股利」之結論 　　不論市場榮枯，第一次發放現金股利宣告是項好消息，投資者有正面反映，宣告日前消息已走漏，在多頭市場可能有人為介入，空頭市場消息走漏較早，使得投資人提前反映，以致宣告日後資訊效果微弱。而台灣之上市公司之「第一次發放現金股利」決策頗能遵行穩定股利政策，且以第一次發放現金股利決策為工具，傳送公司經營績效之訊息。不論市場榮枯，公司管理當局在盈餘穩定成長後，且預期未來也能維持成長的水準，才決定發放現金股利，所以第一次發放現金股利支持「股利資訊內容假說」，隱含有未來盈餘增加之訊息，投資者也能正確解析管理當局所制定之歷史性股利政策之含意，而有正面反映。 　　二、「現金增資」之結論 　　現金增資核准宣告市場投資人之反映因市場榮枯而不同，多頭市場時現金增資核准宣告不是好消息，投資人有負面反映，空頭市場時卻是項好消息，投資人有正面反映，而核准前皆有消息走漏，在多頭市場時可能有人為介入，核准後有資訊效果，多頭市場時資訊效果較弱。不論市場榮枯，台灣之上市公司，在負債權益比上升、事業風險上升及盈餘惡化後辦理現金增資，亦即管理當局鑑於公司經營績效差，並預測財務危機機率增加時辦理現金增資，但財務結構改善後，經營績效未必好轉，多頭市場時投資人尚能正確解析此一現象，而有負面反映，空頭市場時投資人卻未能正確解析真實現象，可能是因空頭市場時之舉債程度較多頭市場時低，讓投資者失去戒心所致。 　　三、「股票股利」之結論 　　不論市場榮枯，除權是項好消息投資者有正面反映，為配得股利在除權前數日已反映完畢，除權後有資訊效果，惟多頭市場之反映較早結束，除權後之資訊效果空頭市場時較弱。台灣上市公司在大額股票股利發放前盈餘穩定成長，但未隱含發放股利後經營績效提升之訊息，投資人未能正確解析此現象，而有正面反映，可能是國人偏好股票股利所致。

<p>Corporate failures pose a problem for banks, investors, customers, employees andinsurers. With a multivariate discrimination method, the study aims to find the specificfinancial ratios that most accurate reveals a company's financial health, which is ofinterest to all of the above parties. The data consist of 1042 Swedish small enterprisesand 30 different financial ratios between the years 2005‐2007. The result shows thatbankrupt firms three years before bankruptcy have a disadvantaged capital structurewith poor solvency and high debt. The year before bankruptcy, profitability and liquiditydeclined for bankruptcy group, and rates vary considerably in comparison with thesurviving companies. Our model can correctly classify 91,2 % of the total sample one yearbefore bankruptcy.</p> / <p>Företagskonkurser är dyrt för samhället och utgör ett problem för bland annat banker,investerare, kunder, anställda, försäkringsbolag och leverantörer. Studien syftar till attfinna de specifika nyckeltal vilka avslöjar ett företags finansiella hälsa, vilket är av intresseför alla ovanstående parter. Med en kvantitativ multivariat analysmetod har 30 olikanyckeltal från sammanlagt 1042 svenska mindre aktiebolag mellan åren 2005 och 2007studerats.Resultatet visar att konkursföretagen tre år innan konkurs har en missgynnandekapitalstruktur med svag soliditet och hög skuldsättning. Året innan konkurs harlönsamheten och likviditeten minskat för konkursgruppen och talen uppvisar storaskillnader i jämförelse med de överlevande företagen. Modellen klassificerar 91,2 % avföretagen korrekt ett år innan konkurs.</p>

Bakgrund: De svenska börsbolagen gör större vinster än någonsin tidigare, men har fått stor kritik för att vara för långsamma i sin vinstallokering. Företag med överkapitaliserade balansräkningar utan investeringsbehov är potentiella måltavlor för riskkapitalisternas affärsidé om finansiell effektivisering och en aggressivare kapitalstruktur. Debatten i media har skapat kritik kring dessa så kallade kortsiktiga och giriga bolagsplundrare som påstås förstöra finansiella värden och kreditvärdigheten i företagen. I tidigare fall har marknaden svarat positivt på riskkapitalisternas investeringar, något som har reflekterats i ett kraftigt ökande aktiepris. Skeptiker hävdar dock att spekulationer är anledningen till att marknadsvärdet drivs upp, inte fundamentala aspekter. Syfte: Syftet med denna magisteruppsats är att fastställa en bild av fenomenet riskkapital och hur dess aktiva ägande inverkar på svenska börsbolags kreditbetyg, kapitalstruktur och värdering. Metod: För att uppnå syftet med vår magisteruppsats har en kvalitativ ansats till-lämpats baserad på tre börsbolag där riskkapitalisters aktiva ägande spelat en betydande roll. Det empiriska materialet har insamlats genom personliga intervjuer med aktie- och kreditanalytiker, och studien förlitar sig även på markandsdata, artiklar och nyhetssändningar i media, samt respektive bolags kvartals- och årsrapporter. Slutsats: Studien har gjorts over den tidsperiod som varit riskkapitalisternas inve-steringshorisont – explicit och implicit. Genom att analysera det aktiva ägarskapet i tre svenska börsbolag kan slutsatsen dras att det inverkat positivt i form av högre prestanda och marknadsvärdering. De finansiella förändringarna har, till skillnad från kritiken, styrkt kreditbetyget i fallen Lindex och Volvo. En analys av Skandia/Old Mutual visade dock en marginellt ökad kreditrisk. Slutsatsen visar härmed att riskkapitalisternas inverkan på svenska börsbolag är värdeförädlande utan att äventyra den finansiella statusen. / Background: The Swedish blue chip companies are performing better than ever, but have been strongly criticised for being too slow in their excess fund allocation. Companies with overcapitalised balance sheets and no investment needs are potential targets for activist funds’ business idea of more aggressive capital structures and financial restructuring. In media, this debate has raised criticism against these so called short-sighted, greedy asset-strippers that destroy company values and increase the companies’ risk of default. In prior cases where activist funds have taken actions, the market has responded positively through increasing the share price. However, sceptics argue that the higher share price is merely a response to a speculative reaction with no fundamental argument supporting the upgrade in market capitalisation. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to establish a view of the phenomenon of activist funds and their impact on blue chip companies’, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, credit rating, capital structure and valuation. Method: To fulfil the purpose of our master thesis, a qualitative approach has been applied based on three cases involving the activities of activist funds. The empirical findings have been retrieved via personal communications with stock- and credit analysts, and the study also relies on articles and news coverage from media, stock market data and annual reports from each of the chosen companies respectively. Conclusion: The study has regarded the period of time which has been the investment horizon of the activist funds – explicitly and implicitly. Analysing their active ownership, the conclusion can be drawn that these activist funds have clearly had a positive impact on each of the blue chip companies’ performance and intrinsic value respectively. The financial restructuring has - contrarily to the criticism – strengthened the credit ratings in the cases of Lindex and Volvo. In the Skandia/Old Mutual-case, a marginally higher default risk was detected. Thus, the study has concluded that activist funds indeed add significant shareholder value without jeopardising the companies’ financial statuses.

This thesis consists of an introductory chapter and four self-contained essays on financial performance and capital structure. Essay I assesses the strength of strategic inputs into profitability among firms within several sub-sectors within the industrial service sector in the U.S. and Sweden. In this study we employ an ordinary least square regression. The results, coupled with structural observations on production sectors, suggest that significant differences may indeed occur in both productivity and pricing in the two systems, i.e. the U.S. and Sweden. Essay II estimates the impact of operating costs and cost of debt on revenue, profit generation and asset retention in public housing companies in Sweden. A general conclusion to draw from the empirical results is that expentitures on consolidated maintenance is not only associated with short-term rental revenues, but undoubtedly long-term viability as well. Further, first difference results suggested that negotiated rents produced operating profits that kept pace with revenues over the time period of study. Essay III examines the impact of selected financial and contextual variables on managers’ decisions to appropriate funds to tax allowances in small firms in Sweden. The motive for appropriating to the tax allocation reserve is twofold. First, the tax allocation reserve is intended to lower the tax levy on investments financed with internally generated income. Second, it creates a possibility for firms to smooth income over a number of years. The results, from the logistic regression, suggest that financial performance, financial position and prior appropriations do impact on managers’ decision to appropriate. Essay IV examines the association between the two sides of the balance sheet based on financial statement information from small firms in Sweden The results of the multivariate canonical correlation analysis provides some support to the hypotheses that firms develop patterns, in their use of assets and their financing.