本研究以2001至2006年台灣上市、上櫃公司為研究對象，探討信用評等與資本結構的關係。參考Kisgen (2006)，以融資順位理論和靜態抵換理論為基礎，本研究探討：(1) 面臨信用評等調等之公司，是否會減少其負債水準，以避免(促使)信用評等調降(調升)，(2) 面臨信用評等調等之公司，是否會背離融資順位理論及靜態抵換理論，而減少長期債務水準。 分析信用評等調等與負債水準關聯性之實證結果顯示，信用評等為影響資本結構之重要因素。企業會因信用評等面臨調等，而減少其負債。此外，企業利用資本結構的改變以避免信用評等調降的動機較促使信用評等調升之動機強，而此種現象又以規模較大之公司較為顯著。 分析信用評等調等對資本結構理論之影響之實證結果顯示，在納入信用評等變數後，面臨信用評等調等之公司有較高傾向背離融資順位理論和靜態抵換理論，進一步減少其長期債務之水準。 / Based on a sample of listed companies in Taiwan over the period of 2001 to 2006, this research investigates the relationship between credit ratings and capital structure. Refers to Kisgen (2006), and result on the Pecking order theory and the Static trade-off theory, this research examines:(1) whether firms near a credit ratings upgrade or downgrade would issue less debt relative to equity. (2) whether firms near a credit ratings upgrade or downgrade would issue less long-term debts and thus depart from the Pecking order theory and the Static trade-off theory. The findings reveals that credit ratings is an important factor to determination of capital structure. The results show that firms near a credit ratings upgrade or downgrade would issue less debt relative to equity. The findings also indicates that firms are more inclined to avoid the downgrade of their credit ratings than to instigate the upgrade of their credit ratings. Such phenomena is more obviously for larger firms. In addition, this research also finds that firms near a credit rating upgrade or downgrade would issue less long-term debts and thus depart from the Pecking order theory and the Static trade-off theory, after taking their credit ratings into consideration.

By use of traditional regression analysis, this study investigates the explanatory power of several factors on the capital structure of the three biggest telecom companies in Taiwan. The study extends empirical work on capital structure through Granger causality to determine whether it is, for instance, the firm size that affects the choice of capital structure or a firm's choice of capital structure that affect its firm size. In the traditional regression analysis, confirming the pecking order model, more profitable firms have lower debt ratio. Consistent with most literatures, collateral value of tangible assets has a positive effect on debt ratio. The effect of firm size is ambiguous. Results of Granger causality between variables have different implications for the selected companies. Overall this study provides some useful information of capital structure of the telecom industry in Taiwan.

In this thesis, we explore the hidden risks in a firm’s real operating process and the financial adjustments made as the risk changes. We investigate the risks associated with a firm’s vertical channel (chapter 2 and 3) and geographic location (chapter 4), and analyze what financial consequences these risks bring. We firstly show strong evidence that a firm’s cost of equity decreases as supplier immobility translates into a decrease in operating leverage and systematic risk. Next, we show that as the specificity of customers induces more cash flow instability, the firm’s idiosyncratic risk increases with customer specificity. As a result, firms with more specific customers choose more conservative dividend payout policies to adjust for the risk changes. In the third essay, we examine the information risk from firm’s geographic location. We find that this information risk affects a firm’s capital structure choice and that centrally located firms have lower leverage ratios than do remotely located ones. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-29 22:12:43.675

Abstract: There is an ongoing debate on whether risk-taking incentives align risk-averse managers’ interests with those of shareholders or whether such incentives lead to excessively risky firm and leverage policies. In this study, we shed light on this debate by using CEO risk-taking incentives, measured by the sensitivity of CEO wealth to changes in stock return volatility (Vega), and explain how Vega affects firms’ security issuance and repurchase activities. In general, we find that a higher Vega increases (decreases) the likelihood of debt issuance (share issuance) and it decreases (increases) the propensity of debt retirement (share repurchase). However, in high-levered firms, the positive effect of Vega on debt issuance and the negative influence of Vega on debt retirement are diminished. One the other hand, for equity issuance and repurchases, high leverage does not seem to alter the impact of Vega. These findings have three main implications: 1) in general, CEO risk-taking incentives (Vega) do affect the financing decisions of firms by increasing firms’ degree of leverage, (2) when existing leverage is high, CEO risk-taking incentives do not seem to induce CEOs to take excessive financial risks through debt issuance, but such incentives encourage them to continue repurchasing shares that would lead to even higher debt ratios and non-operational risks, and (3) firms with high Vega do not seem to adopt target debt ratios. JEL Classification: G30, G32, J33

This dissertation consists of two empirical studies in corporate finance. The first study, The Impact of Acquisitions on the Short-Run Returns to Shareholders and Bondholders, investigates shareholder and bondholder wealth with respect to 310 acquisitions in the UK market between 1994 and 2006. It tests the 3-day and 41-day excess security returns with an event study. The results show positive returns for target shareholders and bondholders, and negative returns for acquirer shareholders and bondholders. Moreover, the tests on value-weighted combined security returns show that stockholders lose, bondholders gain, target firms gain, acquirer firms lose, and shareholders/bondholders of target and acquiring firms as a whole lose. These results support the co-insurance hypothesis, wealth transfer hypothesis, hubris hypothesis, and bond return based on hubris hypothesis, and reject the synergy hypothesis. The univariate and multivariate analyses on the deal characteristics find that target and acquirer stock returns are higher with cash payment, acquirer stock returns are higher in friendly and industry unrelated takeovers, acquirer bond returns are higher in industry related takeovers, target firm share returns are higher when target size is smaller than the acquirer size, target and acquirer stock returns are higher in bull market period, and acquirer bond returns are higher in the bear market period. The second study, A Test of the Partial Adjustment Theory of Leverage Using Leverage Changes Arising from Takeovers, investigates firms’ capital structures by the event of takeovers. It examines 659 US acquiring firms which involved in acquisitions between 1962 and 2001. These acquiring firms’ book leverage ratio deviations are tested in an 11-year window. This result shows that takeovers have significant impact on firms’ book leverage ratios in the announcement year. The trend that firms gradually reverse their actual leverage ratios towards their optimism in the five years after the takeovers supports the dynamic trade-off theory. The partial adjustment models on the speed of adjustment further support the dynamic trade-off theory and reject the alternative capital structure theories. The tests on method of payment and source of fund demonstrate that cash payment and raise of funds are likely to increase firms’ leverage ratios at announcement and to maintain these ratios at a high level in the years after the merger.

Bakgrund och problemdiskussion: Företag motiverar vanligtvis centraliserad finansiering med att det leder till värdeökande effekter, något som forskningsvärlden endast teoretiskt berört vilket ger indikationer på att en centraliserad finansiering kan utgöra en värdeökande strategi. Det föreligger därmed ett intresse att undersöka detta empiriskt. Avsaknaden av ett mått för centraliseringsgraden av finansiering medför att framställande av detta mått dock måste genomföras före teorin om värdeökning kan testas empiriskt. Syfte: Studien syftar till att 1) ta fram ett mått för centraliseringsgraden av finansiering, 2) säkerställa validiteten i detta mått och 3) genom detta mått testa centraliseringsgradens effekt på företagsvärde. Metod: Första syftet uppfylls genom en explorativ studie där närliggande teorier använts tillsammans med observationer av verkligheten. Andra syftet uppfylls genom en mindre statistisk undersökning utifrån årsredovisningar samt en enkätundersökning riktad till experter inom området. Tredje syftet uppnås genom en kvantitativ studie där formulerade hypoteser testas i en statistisk undersökning på 152 svenska börsnoterade bolag.  Resultat och slutsatser: Studien säkerställer ett approximativt mått för centraliseringsgraden av finansiering. Måttets samband med företagsvärde kan dock inte säkerställas. Centraliseringsgraden har däremot ett samband med företagsvärde under vissa förhållanden vilket innebär att ett samband inte heller kan uteslutas. Vidare finner studien empiriskt stöd för Tradeoff Theory, däremot kan ingen förklarande modell för kapitalstrukturen säkerställas och därmed inte heller centraliseringsgradens betydelse för kapitalstrukturen. Slutligen har studien även påbörjat en förklarande modell till centraliseringsgraden av finansiering i och med att geografisk spridning visar sig ha positiv påverkan på centraliseringsgraden. / Background: Firms using centralized financing function usually motivates it by it’s value adding property, something today’s research only theoretically touched which indicates that centralized financing can be a value adding strategy. Therefore it exists an interest for an empirical examination. The lack of a measurement for the degree of centralized financing implies that this measurement have to carried out before the theoretical value adding strategy can be empirical tested. Purpose: The study’s purposes is 1) bring forward a measurement for the degree of centralized financing, 2) secure the measurement’s validity and 3) through this measurement test it’s value adding effect to firm value. Method: The first purpose is achieved through an explorative research design where theories close to the subject together with observations of reality were applied. The second purpose is achieved through a smaller statistical study based on financial reports in conjunction with a survey aimed towards experts within the knowledge area. The third purpose is achieved through testing hypotheses in a statistical study on 152 Swedish listed companies. Results and conclusions: The study validates an approximate measure of the degree of centralized financing. The measurement’s connection to firm value can not be established. Although, the degree of centralization has a connection to firm value given certain circumstances which implies that the connection cannot be ruled out either. Further, the study finds empirical support for Tradeoff Theory, however, there are no empirical support for the explanatory model for the capital structure and, by extension, neither for the degree of centralization’s significance on capital structure. Finally, the study has also begun an explanatory model for the degree of centralization of financing since geographical spread has a significant positive effect on the degree of centralization.

Chapter 1 of this study investigates the link between a firm’s capital structure and their industry competitive behavior. Given the competitive behavior in certain markets, Cournot or Bertrand, we investigate if there are any inborn characteristics of these markets’ competitive behavior that would create an incentive for Cournot firms to have a different strategic debt level than Bertrand firms. Related theories argue that any industry’s competitive behavior, whether it is Bertrand or Cournot would typically consist of a certain type of debt and pursue a certain type of competitive strategy, based on its classification. In this study, we investigate the debt level of a sample of firms classified into either Cournot or Bertrand competition, i.e. explore competitive behavior as a characteristic of firms that tend to be associated with different debt ratios and determine if the competitive market type does in fact lead to a varying debt ratio target. We used two different measures to categorize competition type, the CSM and the SI measure. Our findings indicate that there is no significant difference between differentiated debt levels between Bertrand and Cournot firms. Chapter 2 of the study examines various factors that may affect American Depository Receipts’ trading volume distribution between their home and US markets. These include factors not previously considered in the extant literature. One such factor is the trading motive (hedging or speculative) of investors. Other factors examined include price impact, relative volatility, market to book ratio, as well as a cultural dimension factor: individualism. Controlling for time-specific effects, we find that the relative motive measure of cross-listed firms has a positive relationship on the trading volume distribution. In addition, when looking at a small sample of firms with different motive factors, we find that hedging motive in the home country leads to an increased proportion of trading in the host country relative to the home country, while speculative motive leads to a decrease in the volume share of the host country relative to the home country. A positive and significant relationship is also observed between volatility and the log of trading volume share. The relationship is negative for liquidity and visibility in relation to the trading volume distribution of cross-listed firm’s stocks. Culture difference at home relative to host is found to positively impact trading volume distribution of cross-listed stocks.

In the first chapter, we assess the effect of changes of government ownership on corporate innovation activities. Across 58 non-US countries, treatment firms’ innovation, both in quantity and quality, decrease after a governmental acquisition by using a difference-in-difference regressions and propensity score matching. We show that there is conflict of interest between major shareholders and minor shareholders. The corporate innovation efficiency also decline after the government acquisition. We find that this negative relationship is more severe for the group with higher government ownership of banks, better creditor rights and worse stock market development. For second chapter, if the optimal capital structure exists, an overleveraged firm is expected to move towards the target structure by taking actions that would lower the leverage. Many previous studies, however, show that leverage-decreasing transactions, including offering stocks in exchange of bonds, are meted out with negative market reactions, suggesting deficiencies of the trade-off theory in explaining this phenomenon. In this paper we hypothesize and show that the negative market reactions might be attributed to incorrect rebalancing by poorly-governed firms in the under-leverage domain, who instead of increasing leverage are purposely engaged in leverage-reducing activities.

Cette thèse examine les canaux par lesquels la crise financière mondiale aurait une incidence sur les institutions financières islamiques et les instruments qui peuvent aider à contenir une crise dans un système bancaire dualiste. Notre échantillon couvre 467 banques conventionnelles et 90 banques islamiques dans 16 pays pour la période 2000-2008. Nous estimons la stabilité financière (z-score) dans les banques conventionnelles et les banques islamiques. Le z-score est devenu l’instrument le plus employé par les chercheurs en économie financière (Boyd et Runkle, 1993; Maechler, Mitra et Worrell, 2005; Beck et Laeven, 2006; Laeven et Levine, 2006; Hesse et Čihák, 2007, 2008, 2010; Mercieca, Laeven et Levine, 2009; Beck; Demirgüç-Kunt et Merrouche, 2010). A cette fin, nous utilisons un modèle d'estimation robuste et quantile. Cette thèse compare les causes de l’insolvabilité entre les banques islamiques et les banques conventionnelles dans les pays de la région du Moyen Orient et Afrique du nord (MOAN) et du Sud-est asiatique. À cet effet, nous utilisons différents facteurs microéconomiques, macroéconomiques et également un certain nombre d’autres indicateurs systémiques. / The international financial crisis naturally prompts the question of whether IIFS are robust and resilient or may be swept into crisis by a global wave and if so through what channels. This thesis considers channels through which the world financial crisis would affect IIFS, their features that may help contain it and those that may foster post crisis recovery in a dual banking system. Our sample covers 467 conventional banks and 90 Islamic banks in 16 countries for the period 2000-2008, a range advanced economies and emerging markets. We estimation the financial stability (z-score) in conventional and Islamic banks. The z-score has become a popular measure of bank soundness (Boyd and Runkle, 1993; Maechler, Mitra, and Worrell, 2005; Beck and Laeven, 2006; Laeven and Levine, 2006; Hesse and Čihák, 2007, 2008, 2010; Mercieca, Laeven and Levine, 2009; Beck; Demirgüç-Kunt and Merrouche, 2010). With a robust and a quantile estimation model, this empirical analysis explores causes of insolvency risk in Islamic and conventional banks in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Southeast Asian countries, by controlling for various factors, bank-by-bank data, macroeconomic and other system-wide indicators.

[pt] Tendo em vista a importância das fontes de financiamento das empresas brasileiras inserida num contexto de particularidades e características do mercado brasileiro, e num contexto de juros baixos internacionais, esse trabalho visa a analisar os determinantes da estrutura de capital das empresas de capital aberto listadas na Bovespa (Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo) no Brasil no período de 2004 a 2006. Há de se levar em consideração que o período estudado foi atípico uma vez que o mercado de emissão de ações no Brasil renasceu em 2004 e permaneceu aquecido nos últimos três anos, contrariando a Pecking Order Theory, de que a última alternativa cogitada para o levantamento de fontes seria a emissão de ações. Segundo a teoria, tenta-se evitar ao máximo a entrada de novos acionistas na atividade da empresa. Entretanto, entre 2004 e 2006, 81 empresas recorreram à bolsa e boa parte delas não tinham um alto endividamento e hoje estão com uma dívida líquida baixa. Esse estudo visa também a investigar se existe uma diferença entre esses fatores determinantes quando se discrimina as empresas de maior das de menor porte. O referencial teórico baseia-se nas teorias dos custos de agência, hierarquia de preferência por fontes de financiamento (pecking order theory), na teoria fiscal, teoria da sinalização e na trade-off theory. Dos diversos fatores determinantes propostos na literatura, elegemos alguns fatores quantitativos para analisar empiricamente suas importâncias e validades. Os fatores eleitos foram a influência das variáveis de controle, tamanho da empresa, lucratividade, tranqüilidade dos ativos e oportunidades de crescimento sobre a estrutura de capital das empresas brasileiras. / [en] In view of the importance of the sources of financing of the Brazilian companies, and taking into account the context of particularities and characteristics of the Brazilian market and the context of low international interest rates, this work aims to analyse the determinants of capital structure of Brazilian companies listed in Bovespa (Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo) in the period between 2004 and 2006. One should bear in mind that the period under study was not typical, once the IPOs in Brazil were reborn in 2004 and remained heated in the last three years, contrasting with the Pecking Order Theory, which defends that the last financing alternative would be the issue of shares. According to this theory, the entrance of new shareholders is avoided to the last extent. However, between 2004 and 2006, 81 companies used the stock market for funding and most of them did not have high levels of debt and remain nowadays with low net debt. This study also aims to investigate if there is a difference between the determinants of capital structure, in case larger and smaller companies are discriminated. The theories studied encompass the cost of agency theory, the pecking order theory, the fiscal theory, the signaling theory and the trade-off theory. Out of the many factors determinants of the capital structure proposed, we selected a few of them, mainly quantitative, to analyse empirically its relevance and validity. The factors in question were: the influence of control, company size, profitability, assets tangibility and growth opportunities concerning the Brazilian companies.