This thesis analyses the impact of tax policy on firms' leverage ratios in a balanced panel of 129 medium-sized listed companies from II European countries from 1993 to 2005. A general model of company leverage is applied within which King's tax ratios are used to capture tax policy changes, controlling for non-tax influences suggested by the theory of corporate finance. Various leverage measures are studied to check for the robustness of the estimated model. Total debt is then decomposed into long-term and short-term debt to examine the determinants of different components of debt. The estimation is initially performed within a traditional static framework. The model is estimated using panel data techniques, including the Hausman-Taylor (1981) instrumental variable estimator and the Arellano-Bover (1995) GMM estimator to control for endogeneity. The results suggest that tax policy as measured has a significant but small impact on firms' leverage ratios and the impact is stronger on short-term borrowings than on long-term ones. Non-debt tax shields are a substitute for debt in company activities. With regard to control variables, the empirical findings suggest that non-tax factors affect financing decisions in a way somewhat consistent with the pecking-order theory. There is evidence to support the argument for the differences between the determinants of long-term and short-terin financing decisions. Further research is done by adopting a dynamic adjustment model which allows firms to deviate from their optimal leverage due to random shocks and takes account of adjustment costs incurred when they work back gradually to the optimal level. Arellano-Bond (1991) GMM estimator is applied to obtain consistent estimates. The results substantiate the existence of adjustment costs and corroborate the results from the static model that tax policy measured by King's tax ratios exerts a significant impact on firms' total debt and short-term debt. Finns under the 'Anglo-Saxon' corporate governance systems appear to bear lower adjustment costs and thus have a higher adjustment speed than those under more relation-based systems for all forms of debt. In addition, firms bear lower adjustment costs in adjusting their long-term debt than short-term debt regardless of their corporate governance systems.

Prior literature finds that firms incur a lower cost of debt capital when they voluntarily disclose information. However, the economic literature demonstrates that creditors' lending standards become more stringent (lax) when credit is rationed (abundant) suggesting that they value voluntary disclosure from borrowers differentially across credit market regimes. I draw upon the economic and finance literature on credit rationing to test whether the effects of voluntary disclosure on firms' cost of debt capital is greater during periods of credit rationing. I provide some evidence that confirms this prediction. Moreover, I provide some evidence that this relation is stronger for smaller firms than larger firms during periods of credit rationing suggesting that creditors value voluntary disclosure more from firms that have fewer resources to cover the increased agency cost of lending during periods of credit rationing.

Purpose The high yield debt market has evolved into a $1 trillion market over the last 25 years. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the riskadjusted performance of individual mutual funds that investors use to invest in this asset class. Design/methodology/approach Conditional excess returns are calculated for individual high yield bond mutual funds. Performance persistence over time is measured and size, asset growth, asset duration, the expense ratio, turnover, and manager tenure are used to determine if differences across funds can be explained. Findings Overall, high yield bond funds significantly underperform the CSFB high yield index by 1.6 percent on an annualized basis which is 0.5 percent more than the average expense ratio. Individually, funds do exhibit performance persistence and top ranked funds in one period outperform bottom ranked funds over the proceeding period by an average of 2.7 percent annually. However, except for the expense ratio, commonly used explanatory variables do not appear useful for explaining riskadjusted excess return differences across funds leaving 86 percent of the variation unexplained. Research limitations/implications This paper examines only noload mutual funds that have at least ten years of return data. Historical data for the explanatory variables used to explain alpha differences are limited which constrains any longterm definitive conclusions. Practical implications For investors wishing to invest in this asset class, it appears that past performance does indicate future success, and investors should concentrate on the top performing funds with the lowest expense ratios. Originality/value This paper usefully reaffirms previous evidence on the persistence of high yield bond mutual funds, but casts doubt on the viability of using standard variables other than the expense ratio to explain riskadjusted returns across funds.

The work deals with the role of cost of debt capital in the process of market valuation. Analyses used as a basis for determining the cost of debt, simple and advanced methods of cost of debt capital estimation, as well as the issue of determining the value of debt itself are explained. Further, the work briefly examines the impact of aspects that are not directly related to the credit quality of the firm on its cost of debt; by these aspects, legal conditions for interest payments tax deductibility and third-party guarantees are meant. The pivotal part of the work designs its own model for debt rating and a premium over the risk-free rate of return estimation, with the premium consisting of a premium for expected and unexpected loss of a potential creditor.

This dissertation thesis deals with estimation of the cost of debt that is applied for DCF valuation of businesses in the specific environment of the Czech Republic. Neither theory nor practice has focused on this issue in detail. There is no systematic and comprehensive list of the cost of debt estimation methods usable in practice. Valuers and analysts disregard estimation of the cost of debt arguing that it can be easily estimated from the current bank loan interest rates or from the traded bonds. Neither method is perfect and fully applicable in the Czech Republic. This dissertation thesis shows how the DCF value of an enterprise is shaped by the cost of debt. Almost all formulas analysed caused the value of an enterprise to change with the cost of debt, which makes the estimation of the cost of debt very important. Further, based on an analysis of 183 valuation reports, the thesis documents the practice of the cost of capital estimation in the Czech Republic. It shows that while the cost of equity is mainly estimated in compliance with theory, estimation of the cost of debt is done by simple and sometimes inappropriate methods, because there is no guidance in the literature. Finally, this thesis suggests various methods of the cost of debt estimation that can be used in practice in the Czech Republic. It provides full application guidance to these methods, data that was calculated by the author or taken from other sources and evaluates advantages and disadvantages of these methods. This thesis concludes by recommending methods that should be used for the cost of debt estimation in the Czech Republic as opposed to the simple methods currently used.

Darbo objektas – įmonių kapitalo struktūros formavimas ir jį įtakojantys veiksniai. Darbo tikslas – nustatyti kapitalo struktūros kitimo tendencijas ir jos formavimą įtakojančių veiksnių poveikį Lietuvos įmonėse. Darbo tikslui pasiekti keliami šie uždaviniai: • atskleisti kapitalo struktūros formavimo problemas; • nustatyti svarbiausius kapitalo struktūros formavimo teorinių tyrimų raidos pasaulyje ir Lietuvoje bruožus; • apibendrinti įvairių mokslininkų požiūrį į įmonės kapitalo struktūros formavimui įtaką darančius veiksnius bei jų poveikį įmonės finansiniam svertui. • sukurti tyrimų metodiką, leidžiančią įvertinti Lietuvos įmonių kapitalo struktūros formavimo sprendimus 2000-2006 m.; • nustatyti Lietuvos įmonių kapitalo struktūros kitimo tendencijas; • nustatyti veiksnius, sąlygojančius Lietuvos įmonių kapitalo struktūros formavimo sprendimus. Tyrimų metodika. Naudojant mokslinės literatūros analizės ir sintezės bei palyginimo metodus yra identifikuotos įmonių kapitalo struktūros formavimo problemos, nustatyti kapitalo struktūros formavimo teorinių tyrimų raidos bruožai Lietuvoje ir pasaulyje bei apibendrintas mokslininkų požiūris į įmonių kapitalo struktūros formavimą sąlygojančius veiksnius bei jų poveikį finansiniam svertui. Naudojant tyrimų metodologijos analizės ir lyginimo metodus yra sukurta tyrimų metodika, leidžianti įvertinti Lietuvos įmonių kapitalo struktūros formavimo sprendimus. Pasitelkiant matematinės statistikos funkcijų (TREND, LINEST), dispersinės... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The research object – formation of capital structure and factors that make influence on it. The research purpose is to investigate the trends of capital structure change, also find out the factors that influence on the formation of capital structure. The objectives of the research are: • to find out the problems of capital structure formation; • to present the main theories and models of capital structure, the directions of their development; • to clear up the researchers’ approach how the capital structure decision-making can be affected by relevant environmental influences or other factors; • to create the methodology of investigation of evaluation of capital structure formation decisions in Lithuanian companies during the period 2000-2006; • to investigate the change trends of capital structure formation in Lithuanian companies; • to determine the factors that make the influence on the capital structure decision-making in the companies. Research methodology. By using analysis, synthesis and comparison of foreign and Lithuanian scientific literature there are identified problems of enterprises capital structure formation, described the main points of theories and models of capital structure, also summarised the scientists’ approach to factors make influence on capital structure formation in the research. By using analysis and comparison methods of methodology there was created the research methodology in order to evaluate decisions of capital structure formation in... [to full text]

The present thesis analyzes the application of capital controls and their impact on the economy in the short and long term. These regulatory measures have gone through many periods and opinions in which they were considered as both positive and negative instrument not only of monetary policy. Global financial crisis of 2008 has again raised a lot of questions dealing with this topic. Capital controls may help ease the acute problems associated with inflows or outflows in the short term but they will not solve the issue of the country's susceptibility to movements of primarily debt capital. Long-term capital closeness (whether in terms of export or import) may causes, inter alia, the excessive accumulation of savings in the domestic closed economy or lack of capital for economic development. Therefore, when applying capital controls it is also necessary to improve the country's institutional quality which proved to be an important determinant of capital flows.

Residential real estate development is a capital-intensive business with a lot of risks involved, particularly according to Swedish banks. Since the price fall and decreased consumer confidence on the housing market in 2017, banks have become considerably more restrictive with regards to their approval of construction credit, especially towards smaller and medium sized actors on the residential real estate development market. Due to this restrictive lending environment, small and medium sized developers are often forced to utilize equity capital to an extent that is unlikely to be optimal with regards to modern capital structure theories. The aim of this research paper was, therefore, to explore the financing issues within the sector, examine the financing options available to Swedish medium sized residential developers, and conclude what could be conducted differently by both financiers and developers within the sector to potentially resolve the suggested issue.  The method chosen to explore and examine the selected subject area was semi-structured interviews with highly experienced employees of medium sized developers located in Stockholm, Sweden, Swedish commercial banks and other alternative financiers active within the sphere of residential real estate development financing. The rationale behind involving both developers and financiers was to gain an understanding of the issue from different perspectives, and thus hear arguments and counter arguments for and against the current financing structure in order to find the most suitable potential improvements. The collected data from the interviews was thematically analyzed and discussed from a perspective of modern and established financial theory, such as the trade off theory and the pecking order theory, along with other relevant theoretical frameworks, such as anchoring, game theory and risk. What was found was that developers primarily have an issue with early project financing and moving capital efficiently between finished and starting projects. Paradoxically, it seems unlikely that developers currently operate in accordance with aforementioned established financial optimization theories due to them being financially conservative in an effort to signal financial strength to banks and be approved construction credit as a reward. Also, what was found was that there exists a lack of effective communication between banks and developers with regards to the development process and accompanied risks, leading to an even more restrictive bank due to the effects of asymmetric information. A potential improvement to the way in which developers currently structure their capital was suggested to be an involvement of alternative financiers in the short term in order to gain access to capital in the more sensitive stages of the development process, later refinancing the debt when possible, through the means of the traditional banking system. / Bostadsutveckling är en kapitalintensiv verksamhet med stora risker, särskilt enligt de svenska bankerna. Sedan prisfallet och det minskade konsumentförtroende för bostadsmarknaden 2017 har banker blivit betydligt mer restriktiva när det gäller godkännande av byggkredit, särskilt gentemot mindre och medelstora aktörer på bostadsmarknaden. På grund av denna restriktiva kredit-miljö tvingas små och medelstora utvecklare ofta att använda eget kapital i en utsträckning som sannolikt inte är optimal med hänsyn till moderna teorier om kapitalstruktur. Syftet med denna uppsats var därför att utforska finansieringsproblemen inom sektorn, undersöka finansieringsalternativen för svenska medelstora bostadsutvecklare och dra slutsatser om vad som kan göras annorlunda av både finansiärer och utvecklare inom sektorn för att eventuellt lösa det föreslagna problemet. Metoden som valts för att utforska och undersöka det valda ämnesområdet var halvstrukturerade intervjuer med mycket erfarna anställda från medelstora utvecklare i Stockholm, Sverige, svenska affärsbanker och andra alternativa finansiärer som är aktiva inom finansiering av bostadsutveckling. Motivet bakom att involvera både utvecklare och finansiärer var att få en förståelse för frågan ur flera olika perspektiv och därmed höra argument och motargument för och emot den nuvarande finansieringsstrukturen för att hitta de mest lämpliga potentiella förbättringarna. Den insamlade informationen från intervjuerna analyserades tematiskt och diskuterades utifrån modern och etablerad finansiell teori, såsom trade-off theory och pecking order-teorin. Därutöver analyserades och diskuterades informationen utifrån ytterligare ett antal relevanta teoretiska ramar, såsom förankringsteorin, spelteori och risk. Vad som konstaterades var att utvecklare främst har ett problem med tidig projektfinansiering samt att flytta kapital effektivt mellan färdiga och startande projekt. Paradoxalt nog verkar det osannolikt att utvecklare för närvarande arbetar i enlighet med tidigare nämnda etablerade finansiella optimeringsteorier på grund av att de är finansiellt konservativa i ett försök att signalera finansiell styrka till banker och tilldelas byggkredit som belöning. Vad som också konstaterades var att det saknas en effektiv kommunikation mellan banker och utvecklare när det gäller utvecklingsprocessen och åtföljande risker, vilket leder till en ännu mer restriktiv bank på grund av effekterna av asymmetrisk information. En potentiell förbättring av hur utvecklare för närvarande strukturerar sitt kapital föreslogs vara ett kortsiktigt involverande av alternativa finansiärer för att få tillgång till kapital i de känsligare stadierna av utvecklingsprocessen, för att senare refinansiera skulden när det är möjligt genom det traditionella banksystemet.

近年來，我國上市上櫃公司發行公司債籌措資金的情形蔚為風潮。依據我國目前規定，公司擬發行的公司債須由證期會認可之信用評等機構進行評等，並出具報告。既無信用評等向來重視會計資訊的品質，因此引起了本研究探討資訊揭露是否會降低公司債資金成本的動機。關於資訊揭露與負債資金成本的關係，僅見於Sengupta(1998)的研究，而本研究則試圖以資訊揭露能降低代理成本的角度，探討在國內資本市場中，資訊揭露是否與負債資金成本存在一反向關係。 本研究評估揭露指數方法與之前文獻所採用的的內容分析法不同。本研究是以公司發行公司債前一年度盈餘概估情形評估揭露指數口本研究採用最小平方法迴歸分析(OLS)對測試假說，其結果如下： 1.公司發行公司債之增額負債資金成本與資訊揭露程度存在反向關係。 本研究之實證結果顯示，我國資本市場中，公司資訊揭露程度與公司債之殖利率存有顯著的反向關係。顯示在債券的初級市場中，除了債券的條件與公司體質的好壞以外，資訊揭露也可能成為公司債殖利率的決定因素。 2.若公司債的代理成本較高，其資訊揭露對負債資金成本之反向變動關係會較強。 本研究以公司債轉換條款與擔保條款的有無，區分公司債代理成本的高低。實證結果發現，發行具轉換條款公司債之公司與發行不具轉換條款公司債之公司，其資訊揭露對負債資金成本影響顯著較低。驗證了設有轉換條款或擔保條款之公司債將因為債券本身的代理成本下降，而削弱資訊揭露對公司債殖利率的影響。也就是說若公司債屬於普通公司債或無擔保公司債時，資訊揭露對公司債之殖利率影響更大。因此對於有意發行無擔保公司債或普通公司債的公司而言，資訊揭露將更能降低其負債資金成本。 關鍵字：代理成本，負債資金成本，揭露程度，資訊不對稱 / In recent years, it has become a common phenomenon for listed corporations to issue bonds in Taiwan. Currently in Taiwan, the Securities and Futures Committee (SFC) forbids a corporation to issue bonds unless it has been properly rated by a credit rating agency certified by the SFC. Since the credit rating agency all along have generally placed a great deal of emphasis on the quality of accounting information, this research purports to investigate whether fuller disclosure of accounting information can indeed reduce the cost of debt capital. Only one study by Sengupta (1998) focused on the cost of debt capital, and addressed the issue about the relation between the disclosure level the cost of debt capital, and this study attempts to investigate whether a reverse relationship exists between disclosure and cost of debt capital in Taiwan form the angle of the agency cost. The method to determine the score of the disclosure level applied by this research is different from the content analysis method applied by prior studies. This research uses the earning estimation disclosure made in the year prior to the bond issuance, for measuring the disclosure level. This research applies the QLS model to test the hypotheses. After controlling for other variables, this research concludes that: 1.There may exist a reverse relation between the incremental cost of debt capital and the disclosure level. The result shows that there exists a significant reverse relation between the yield to maturity of bond and the corporate disclosure level. This finding leads us to conclude that because of the ability to lower the agency costs and control the information asymmetry, corporate disclosure level, couple with the terms of the bond and the issuing corporation's financial conditions, could be one determinant of the yield to maturity of the bond. 2.If the agency cost of the bond is higher, the reverse relation between the incremental cost of debt capital and the disclosure level could be stronger. In this research, agency costs are considered low when the bond is convertible or secured, or vice versa. The result shows that for the corporation issuing convertible or secured bonds, the impact of the disclosure is less significant. This finding verifies that when the bond is convertible or secured, the reverse relation between the cost of debt capital and the disclosure level could be weakened since the agency costs are lower. Therefore, this research draws a conclusion that for corporations that attempt to issue straight bonds or unsecured bonds, the disclosure level plays a more important rule to reduce the cost of debt capital. Key word: Agency Cost, Cost of Debt Capital, Disclosure Level, Information Asymmetry.

我國庫藏股制度於民國八十九年開始實施，當上市櫃公司宣告買回庫藏股後，造成了公司資產的重分配，其股東、債權人等利害關係人會以預期心理來評估自身權益所受到的影響，並將其反應在所要求的必要報酬率上，因此公司對股東所負擔的權益資金成本及對債權人所負擔的負債資金成本都將產生變動。 當公司宣告買回庫藏股後，實證結果顯示：(1)其負債資金成本將上升，而權益資金成本將會下降。(2)預定買回股份佔資本比愈大時，其負債資金成本增加愈多。(3)買回前獲利能力之不同，並未發現其會對宣告買回公司之負債資金成本有顯著影響。(4)依目的三買回將使該公司負債資金成本增加數小於依目的一或目的二買回之負債資金成本增加數、並使權益資金成本減少數大於依目的一或目的二買回之權益資金成本減少數。(5)公司內部人持股比率於宣告前一年淨增加愈多則權益資金成本降低程度愈大。(6)資訊愈對稱的公司其權益資金成本下降的程度愈少。 / Share repurchase system was formally implemented in Taiwan in 2000 , when the TSEC & OTC listed companies announce that they will repurchase shares , it changes the composition of assets held by the firm , revising the ownership proportions of each of their shareholders and interests of each of their creditors. Thus, their cost of equity capital and debt capital may change . When companies announce to repurchase shares , results show that : (1)their cost of debt capital will increase and their cost of equity capital will decrease. (2)the more percentage of shares companies expect to repurchase , the more their cost of debt capital increase. (3)the different profitability before announcement has no significant effect to companies’ cost of debt capital. (4)repurchase in order to conserve companies’ credibility and shareholders’ equity will increase less cost of debt capital and decrease more cost of equity capital than that in order to reach other two purposes .(5) the more increase of percentage of shares companies’ insiders’ hold before announce, the more their cost of equity capital decrease. (6) the more symmetrical information companies obtain , the less their cost of equity capital decrease.