L'objectif de cette thèse est de décrire et d'expliquer le comportement du marché et des entreprises dans les pays émergents du Moyen-Orient et de la région du Golfe dont les économies ont engagé avec vigueur des programmes de réformes systématiques pour s'intégrer au marché mondial. Le risque politique est l'une des données majeures de cette région et pourrait avoir un impact significatif sur le domaine financier. Dans les faits cependant, le potentiel de ces économies, conjugué à la volonté des gouvernements de libéraliser l'économie et de développer le domaine de l'investissement, attire les investisseurs étrangers soucieux de rediriger leurs investissements après les dérives de la crise financière mondiale. La thèse se compose de trois essais. Le premier traite de l'effet des caractéristiques des entreprises et des pays concernés sur la structure du capital. Il se subdivise en deux parties: l'une concerne les seuls groupes d'entreprises, l'autre porte sur l'ensemble des entreprises cotées en bourse. Le deuxième essai s'intéresse à la gouvernance d'entreprise sur les marchés boursiers ainsi qu'à l'impact de l'application des normes de communication financière sur les valeurs boursières et sur les asymétries d'information. Le troisième essai est consacré à l'impact des facteurs liés à l'entreprise et au pays concerné sur les dépenses en capital de l'entreprise. Un chapitre introductif fait préalablement au lecteur une présentation de la région quant aux opportunités, obstacles et risques. Il en ressort au final d'intéressants résultats qui expliquent pour partie le comportement des entreprises et des investisseurs dans la région et qui ouvrent la voie à d'autres questions méritant investigations et explications. Cette thèse peut constituer, pour les économies émergentes, une aide à la planification de leur processus de développement. Elle représente un maillon important dans les recherches financières portant sur une région qui n'avait jamais été étudiée auparavant sous cet angle de façon aussi large, profonde et systématique. / The objective of this thesis is to describe and to explain corporate and market behavior in the emerging markets of the Middle East and the Gulf States region. These economies have started enthusiastically extensive reform programs to integrate into the world market. Political risk is a main feature in the region and can hold a significant effect on financial aspects. Meanwhile, the rich capabilities and capacities of these economies along with the governments' intent to liberalize the economies and develop their investment arena attract, in fact, foreign investors who want to redirect their investments to emerging markets after the deteriorations of the world financial crisis. The thesis is comprised of three essays: the first is about the effect of company and country characteristics on capital structure. This article is divided into two sub-articles; one is applied only on the group corporations and the other is applied on all the listed companies in all the markets. The second essay is about corporate governance in stock markets, and the effect of applying disclosure standards on stock prices and on asymmetric information. The third essay is about the effect of firm and country factors on firm's capital expenditure. Also an introductory article is prepared to introduce the region to the reader within the context of opportunities, obstacles, and risks. Very interesting findings evolved which explain some aspects of the behavior of corporations and investors in the region. The results open the gate to specific important questions and topics that need to be explained and investigated. This thesis can assist these emerging economies in the planning for the development process. It will be an important stone in our future financial researches on the region which has never been explored before so widely, deeply, and extensively.

Examensarbete i foretagsekonomi, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet, 2FE93E, VT 2017 Författare Johan Asplund, Henrik Norrman och Therese Rodger Handledare Andreas Stephan Titel Hur investmentbolag paverkar kapitalstrukturen i sina innehav - En fallstudie av Ratos Bakgrund Bolags kapitalstruktur, fördelningen mellan bolagets tillgångar och skulder, visar hur bolaget finansierar sin verksamhet. Private Equity bolag lånar kapital för att kunna investera i nya uppköp av onoterade bolag och har ofta en begränsad planerad ägarhorisont. Kapitalstruktur har undersökts under lång tid men inte hur en majoritetsägare påverkar kapitalstrukturen i sina andelsbolag. Tidigare studier fokuserar pa exempelvis kapitalstrukturer i industriföretag eller kapitalstrukturer i småforetag. Syfte Syftet med studien ar att analysera om ett investmentbolag påverkar kapitalstrukturen i sina innehavsbolag nar de genom uppköp har gått in som en majoritetsägare i dessa bolag och vilka effekter förändringen kan leda till. Metod Studien utgår från en kvantitativ ansats där finansiella nyckeltal av Ratos innehavsbolag undersöks före och efter det att Ratos gått in som majoritetsagare i bolaget. Dessa nyckeltal jämförs sedan med branschspecifika nyckeltal genererade från SCB. Resultat I studien återfinns inget entydigt bevis på att vårt valda Private Equity bolag, Ratos, ändrar kapitalstrukturen väsentligt på något sätt efter att ha gått in som majoritetsägare i ett bolag. / A company’s choice of capital structure is a well documented field in financial research but no unambiguous results are available regarding how the company is best financed or what actually defines the optimal capital structure for a company. The purpose of this study is to examine the possible changes on a company’s capital structure once a Private Equity company has become the majority owner. In this study a deductive approach has been used and a quantitative survey has been applied. Financial ratios from yearly reports of companies before and after the Swedish Private Equity company Ratos became the majority owner have been analysed and compared with the hypothesis that a Private Equity majority owner would significantly change the capital structure of the acquired company. The selection criteria for the companies was that Ratos should own more than 50 % of the company in order to actually have an impact on how the company is financed, in addition the selected companies needed to have data available in the form of yearly reports both prior to Ratos becoming the majority owner and at least two years afterwards in order to study the eventual changes of the take over. Financial ratios such as debt to equity ratio, leverage and return on equity were then calculated and results analysed. Theories of capital structure such as the Trade off theory, Pecking order theory, Miller and Modigliani and the Agency theory have also been applied to analyse the outcome. The method of comparison used was the differencein-difference method with data from Statistics Sweden (SCB) from similar relevant companies. The results of this study do not indicate that the capital structure of the company changes significantly within the first two years after acquisition by the majority owner Ratos. Suggestions for further studies would be to analyse a wider group of Private Equity companies as majority owners and observe eventual changes in capital structure in takeovers.

This master thesis deals with financial resources of company. I explain terms such as enterprise financing, capital structure, structure of company assets, long and short-term financing, shareholder's capital, liabilities and their costs. For the qualification purpose I have divided the financial resources into shareholder 0s equity and liabilities. They are separately described in the third and the fourth parts. They are the most importatnt and the widest parts of the whole thesis. The last part is devoted to alternative resources, that companies can use for financing of their business plans. The thesis concentrates on the possibilities of financing for large business companies. The aim of my thesis is to provide its readers with a variety of knowledge on the topic, which should enable them to make thier own financial decision. KEY WORDS: enterprise financing, financial management, resources of financing, structure of assets, capital structure, cost of capital

Arbetslösheten i Sverige uppgick under 2017 års första månad till 7,3 procent. En aktuell faktor för att minska arbetslösheten är entreprenörskap. Entreprenörskap är en viktig del i utvecklingen för att driva småföretag. Småföretagen svarar för en betydande del av Sveriges sysselsättning, men lider av låg överlevnadsgrad. För att öka sannolikheten för överlevnad använder många småföretag olika bootstrappingmetoder. Syftet med bootstrapping är att finna lösningar på resursbehov och kan därför ses som ett alternativ till externa finansieringsmedel. Förutsättningarna för användning av finansiella bootstrappingmetoder varierar utefter vart i företagslivscykeln företagen befinner sig. Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är således att förklara vilka bootstrappingmetoder svenska småföretag använder utifrån företagens livscykel. För att kunna uppnå studiens syfte och skapa en generell bild över forskningsområdet har studien genomförts med en kvantitativ forskningsansats genom ett positivistiskt forskningssynsätt. Studien har undersökt 115 småföretag i Sverige genom en enkätundersökning. Genom att studera teorier kring småföretagens kapitalstruktur samt resursanskaffning skapades en grund för att utforma studiens huvud- samt underhypoteser kring finansiell bootstrapping och företagslivscykeln. Det huvudsakliga resultatet från studien är att användningen av finansiella bootstrappingmetoder förändras genom företagslivscykeln. Studien kan även påvisa att vissa bootstrappingmetoder används mer relativt andra i respektive livscykelstadier. / During the first month of 2017 the unemployment in Sweden amounted to 7,3 percent. An important factor for reducing unemployment is entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is an important part of the development of small businesses. Small businesses account for a significant part of Sweden's employment, but suffer from low survival rates. To increase the likelihood of survival, many small businesses use different type of bootstrapping methods. The aim of Financial bootstrapping is to find solutions for resource needs and can therefore be seen as an alternative to external funding. The conditions for using Financial bootstrapping methods vary according to the business lifecycle. The purpose of this essay is to explain witch bootstrapping methods Swedish small businesses are using based on the business lifecycle. In order to achieve the purpose of the study and to create a general view of the research area, the study has been conducted which a quantitative research approach through a positivist research philosophy. The study examined 115 small businesses in Sweden by a survey. By examining theories about small business capital structure and resource needs, a foundation was created for designing the studies main and under hypothesis regarding financial bootstrapping and the business lifecycle. The main result of the study is that the use of financial bootstrapping methods is changing throughout the business lifecycle. The study can also demonstrate that some bootstrapping methods are used more relative to others in their respective lifecycle stages.

The first chapter investigates how corporate governance influences firms’ capital structure behavior. Based on the premise that costs associated with deviations from the target capital structure are positively correlated to the extent of deviation, we hypothesize that the initial deviation from the target will be shorter for a firm with good corporate governance than for a firm with poor corporate governance. We also hypothesize that the former group will employ a higher speed of adjustment towards target than the latter group due primarily to the following reasons. First, a firm with well-placed governance system will adjust at a faster rate because longer it stays deviated, the higher the loss of value it faces. Second, firms with better governance structures enjoy lower adjustment costs. We develop three sets of measures for the quality of corporate governance and analyze how they influence a firm’s rebalancing behavior in presence of relevant control variables. Our results are consistent with the hypotheses. The second chapter explores investors’ reactions to new information on REITs and non-REITs option markets. The real estate market can be fairly volatile; what remains unclear is whether price changes are excessively volatile relative to fundamentals. This study attempts to examine the latter by using the methodology based on Stein (1989), which utilizes option data. The advantage of using option data rather than stock data to assess the reactions to information is that option valuation is not affected by changes in risk premium. Under volatility mean reversion, the changes in implied volatilities of long-term options should be less than those of short-term options. If not, an excessive reaction is suggested. Specifically, the study compares the changes in implied volatilities of options on REITs and non-REITs. Because real estate transactions typically involve a great degree of leverage, reactions can be greater for REITs than for non-REITs; on the other hand, there are several reasons that REITs are subject to potentially a lower degree of excessive reactions. Empirical results indicate that the reactions to information are stronger in non-REITs than in REITs. Moreover, we find that down markets are associated with stronger reactions, which we argue might be due to a leverage effect.

Bolag står ständigt inför beslut kring val av finansiering och dessa beslut resulterar i bolagens kapitalstruktur. Kapitalstrukturen har undersökts sedan en lång tid tillbaka och flera olika teorier har växt fram. Än idag finns det dock ingen teori som kan förklara kapitalstrukturen på ett tillfredsställande sätt. Eftersom det inte finns några tydliga tecken på att det finns en optimal kapitalstruktur eller hur en sådan skulle kunna se ut, kan kapitalstrukturen variera. Denna undersökning har tagit fasta på två av de mest kända teorierna för att förklara kapitalstrukturen, trade-off teorin och pecking order teorin. Undersökningen har en tvärsnittsdesigns utformning och studerar hur lönsamhet, tillväxt, storlek, materiella tillgångar, likviditet, icke-skuld skattesköld och bransch påverkar kapitalstrukturen. Fokus ligger på den svenska marknaden och ämnar att kunna generalisera kring svenska börsnoterade bolag. Resultatet av denna undersökning bidrar till en ökad förståelse för kapitalstrukturen men vi är långt ifrån en fullständig bild av ämnet. Undersökningens slutsatser skiljer sig till viss del från tidigare forskning eftersom den hittar stöd för båda teorierna. Ingen av teorierna går dock att applicera i sin helhet på den svenska marknaden vilket tyder på att forskningsområdet fortfarande behöver utvecklas och nya idéer tillkomma. / Companies are constantly faced with making decisions regarding their choice of financing and these decisions result in the company’s capital structure. The capital structure has been studied for a long time and several theories have emerged. Still to this day there’s no theory that can explain the capital structure in a satisfying way. Since there are no clear signs that an optimal capital structure exists nor how one would look, the capital structure can vary. This study has its foundation in two of the most well-known theories that try to explain capital structures, the trade-off theory and the pecking order theory. This cross-sectional study examines how profitability, growth, size, tangible assets, liquidity, non-debt tax shield and industry affect capital structure. The focus lies on the Swedish market and intends to generalize about listed Swedish companies. The result of this paper contributes to an increased understanding of capital structure but we are far from a complete comprehension of the subject. The conclusion of this study partially differs from previous research as it finds support for both theories. However none of the theories are applicable on the Swedish market as a whole which suggests that further research is required along with the addition of new ideas. This paper is written in Swedish.

A pesquisa procurou levantar a relação entre concentração acionária e risco de expropriação de riqueza dos credores no Brasil. O universo amostral compreendeu as empresas de capital aberto listadas na Bovespa no período de 1997 a 2011. Foram traçados dois objetivos na pesquisa: (i) verificar se empresas com a presença de controle acionário definido apresentam maior percepção de risco de expropriação de riqueza dos credores do que aquelas que não apresentam concentração acionária; e (ii) verificar entre as empresas com a presença de controle acionário definido se maior participação no controle gera maior percepção de risco de expropriação de riqueza de terceiros. O suporte teórico do trabalho se deu em estudos sobre estrutura de capital, controle de capital, mercado de crédito e custo de capital de terceiros no Brasil. As variáveis estudadas foram o percentual de ações ON pelos principais acionistas e o custo da dívida medido pelo Ki. Os procedimentos estatísticos se deram pelos testes não paramétricos U de Man-Whitney e Kruskal-Wallis com comparações múltiplas entre grupos. A primeira resposta apresentou indícios, com significância estatística de 5%, que empresas com controle acionário definido tendem a apresentar maior risco de expropriação de riqueza de terceiros do que as demais. Entretanto, quando o controle é exercido por um único acionista que possui 50% ou mais das ações com direito a voto, as empresas tendem a apresentar menor risco de expropriação de riqueza dos credores do que as demais. A segunda resposta encontrada, também com significância estatística de 5%, apontou que, em empresas com a presença de um único acionista na posse de 50% ou mais das ações ON, à medida que esse principal acionista aumenta a participação no controle, o custo da dívida, variável explicativa de risco de expropriação de riqueza de terceiros, tende a diminuir. Portanto, acredita-se que o presente estudo cumpre a proposta de investigação apresentada ao não encontrar evidências que permitam descartar a ideia de que existe relação entre controle acionário definido e risco de expropriação de riqueza dos credores.Palavras-chave: Apreçamento de opções, Modelo HJM Gaussiano, Regressão não paramétrica. / The survey tried to raise the relationship between ownership concentration and risk of expropriation of creditors\' wealth in Brazil. The sample universe consisted of publicly traded companies listed on Bovespa in the period 1997-2011. Two main objectives were outlined: (i) verify if companies with the presence of defined shareholder control have a higher perception of risk of expropriation of creditors\' wealth than those who do not have shareholder control, and (ii) check between companies with defined shareholder control set if greater participation in the control creates higher perception of risk of expropriation of third parties\' wealth. The theoretical basis of the work was in studies on capital structure, capital controls, credit market and cost of third party capital in Brazil. The variables studied were the percentage of ON shares by principal shareholders and the cost of debt measured by Ki. Statistical procedures were given by nonparametric tests U of Mann Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis with multiple comparisons between groups. The first response, with statistical significance of 5%, showed that companies with defined shareholder control set tend to have a higher risk of expropriation of third parties\' wealth than others. However, when the control is exercised by a single shareholder who holds 50% or more of voting shares, companies tend to have lower risk of expropriation of creditors\' wealth than others. The second one, also with a statistical significance of 5%, pointed out that in companies with a single shareholder who holds 50% or more of ON shares, as this principal shareholder increases his participation in the control, the cost of debt, explanatory variable risk of expropriation of third parties\' wealth, tends to decrease. Therefore, it is believed that this study fulfils the investigation proposal presented to find no evidence to discard the idea that there is a relationship between defined shareholder control and risk of expropriation of creditors\' wealth.

A comparação entre duas teorias na área de finanças sobre estrutura de capital nas empresas é o objetivo deste trabalho. Usando testes desenvolvidos por Shyam-Sunder & Myers (1999) e Rajan & Zingales (1995), os dados de empresas brasileiras, não financeiras, de capital aberto foram analisados entre os anos de 2000 e 2010 para verificar se preferiram os comportamentos previstos na Static Trade-off Theory ou os da Pecking Order Theory. As maneiras de se financiar e as causas e conseqüências dessas decisões nas empresas são importantes questões que vêm sendo debatidas em inúmeros trabalhos acadêmicos. Este trabalho procurou analisar a bibliografia relacionada ao tema e replicar testes realizados no exterior, visando verificar as semelhanças, diferenças e os motivos relacionados a tais resultados. Os resultados obtidos apontam para a provável preferência do comportamento previsto pela Pecking Order Theory, isto é, as empresas estudadas, no período analisado, usaram, em primeiro lugar, recursos gerados internamente (caixa operacional), usando em segundo lugar recursos de terceiros, por meio de empréstimos bancários ou emissão de debêntures, somente emitindo ações como última alternativa. Outra conclusão foi que as empresas brasileiras de capital aberto provavelmente não procuram alcançar ou manter uma meta ideal de endividamento, que equilibre os custos e benefícios gerados pelos empréstimos. / The comparison between two theories in the finance area of capital structure in business is the goal of this work. Using tests developed by Shyam-Sunder & Myers (1999) and Rajan & Zingales (1995), the data of Brazilian non-financial publicly traded were analyzed between the years 2000 and 2010 to determine whether they preferred the expected behaviors in the Static Trade-off Theory or the Pecking Order Theory. The ways to finance and the causes and consequences of these decisions in organizations are important issues that have been discussed in numerous scholarly works. This study sought to examine the literature related to the theme and replicating tests performed abroad in order to verify the similarities, differences and the reasons related to such results. The results indicate the problabe preference behavior provided by Pecking Order Theory, ie the companies studied in the period analyzed, used, first, internally generated funds (operating cash), second using third-party funds through bank loans or issuance of bonds or issuance of bonds, sending shares only as a last resort. Another conclusion is that Brazilian companies traded problaby did not seek to achieve or maintain an ideal goal of indebtedness, wich balances the costs and benefits generated by the loans.

De acordo com a teoria de equity market timing, as companhias tendem a emitir ações ou dívidas de modo a explorar janelas de oportunidade e esse comportamento é um determinante significativo da estrutura de capital das empresas, reflexo das decisões de financiamento. Com base nessa assertiva e nas evidências recentes, esta dissertação investiga a ocorrência de equity market timing na decisão de emissão primária de ações (IPO e Follow-on) no mercado de capitais brasileiro. Em um primeiro momento, analisaram-se os determinantes da estrutura de capital das companhias brasileiras, com base em variáveis comuns na literatura: índice market-to-book, tamanho, tangibilidade, rentabilidade e setor. Mais tarde, para averiguar a existência do comportamento de market timing na decisão de emitir ações, utilizou-se a relação dos retornos anormais, antes e após a emissão, com o volume total de capital levantado por meio da oferta desses títulos, além da quantidade de ações que a empresa emitiu e o preço inicial de negociação, medidas relativas utilizadas por Alti (2006). A amostra analisada leva em conta características setoriais e compreende 123 empresas de capital aberto que emitiram novas ações na BM&FBOVESPA entre 2004 e 2015, somando 165 emissões primárias durante esse período. Foram utilizadas análises descritivas de dados, testes de diferença de médias e regressões lineares para prover evidências da ocorrência desse fenômeno. Os resultados indicam que mais da metade das emissões de ações no Brasil ocorre nos meses que antecedem o prazo máximo de divulgação dos demonstrativos contábeis das empresas, e que 75% das emissões aconteceram depois de retornos anormais positivos. Ademais, as empresas que tiveram retornos anormais negativos depois da emissão de ações foram as que captaram mais recursos por essa via de financiamento, indo a favor da prática de equity market timing na decisão de emissão de ações no mercado brasileiro. Destaca-se, ainda, a constatação de que esse comportamento oportunista está mais claramente ligado à oferta inicial de ações (IPO), ou seja, quando a empresa utiliza essa fonte de financiamento pela primeira vez do que quando a emissão é subsequente (Follow-on), além das evidências de que o setor tem papel importante no comportamento de market timing dos gestores, indicando que as empresas de um mesmo ramo setorial tomam decisões semelhantes com a finalidade de explorar janelas de oportunidades possivelmente relacionadas aos seus respectivos setores. / According to the equity market timing theory, companies tend to issue stocks or debts in order to explore windows of opportunity, and this behavior is a significant determinant of the capital structure of companies, which reflects from financing decisions. Based on this assertion and on recent evidence, this dissertation investigates the occurrence of equity market timing in the decision of primary issuance of shares (IPO and Follow-on) in the Brazilian capital market. First, determinants of the capital structure of Brazilian companies were analyzed, based on common variables in the literature: market-to-book ratio, size, tangibility, profitability and industry. Later, in order to determine the occurrence of market timing behavior in the decision to issue shares, it was investigated the relation of abnormal returns - both before and after the issue - with the total volume of capital raised through securities\' offers and also the quantity of shares issued by the company and the initial trading price, relative measures used by Alti (2006). The analyzed sample takes into account industrial characteristics and comprises 123 public companies that issued new shares on BM&FBOVESPA between 2004 and 2015, resulting in to 165 primary issues during this period. Descriptive data analyzes, mean difference tests and linear regressions were used to provide evidence of the occurrence of this phenomenon. The results indicate that more than half of Brazil\'s equity issues occur in the months leading up to the maximum disclosure period of the companies\' financial statements, and that 75% of the issues occurred after abnormal positive returns. In addition, the companies that had negative abnormal returns after the issuance of shares were the ones that captured more resources through this financing channel, favoring the practice of equity market timing in the decision to issue shares in the Brazilian market. It should also be pointed out that this opportunistic behavior is more clearly linked to the initial public offering (IPO), that is, when the company uses this source of financing for the first time than when the issue is secondary (Follow- on). Also, there is evidence that the industry plays an important role in the manager\'s market timing behavior, indicating that the companies belonging to a same industry make similar decisions with the purpose of exploring windows of opportunities that possibly related to their respective industries.

As conclusões das pesquisas sobre velocidade de ajustamento da estrutura de capital em direção ao alvo (SOA - Speed Of Adjustment) são muito divergentes quanto à velocidade medida. A maioria dos estudos mensura o SOA sem levar em conta certas especificidades das empresas ou de suas estratégias. Dividindo-se a amostra em empresas não adquirentes, adquirentes eventuais e adquirentes em série, o presente estudo tem por objetivo investigar o padrão de comportamento do SOA no período entre 1990 e 2010 para empresas norte-americanas. Considerando diversas variáveis de controle (restrições financeiras, oportunidades de crescimento, grau de alavancagem financeira e emissão/redução de dívidas e ações), tem-se uma investigação mais aprofundada de como as empresas não adquirentes, adquirentes eventuais e adquirentes em série ajustam sua estrutura de capital em direção ao alvo. São utilizadas como variáveis dependentes o endividamento a valor de mercado e endividamento líquido a valor de mercado. Verificou-se que os endividamentos médios para as três amostras são diferentes entre si, de forma estatisticamente significante. As empresas adquirentes em série possuem o menor endividamento, ao passo que as empresas não adquirentes são as mais endividadas, estando as empresas adquirentes eventuais em posição intermediária quanto ao endividamento. Este resultado sugere que as empresas possuem padrões de endividamentos distintos em função de sua política de investimentos relacionada à aquisições. É utilizado o modelo de ajustamento parcial para mensurar o SOA, empregando painel de dados dinâmico com a técnica do Método dos Momentos Generalizados (GMM) Sistêmico para se medir a velocidade de ajustamento da estrutura de capital de um período a outro. Esta técnica tem-se mostrado a menos enviesada e, assim, tem sido uma das mais utilizadas em trabalhos empíricos. Os resultados encontrados evidenciam que o padrão de comportamento do SOA pode depender da sua estratégia de investimentos em aquisições. O SOA das empresas adquirentes em série é constantemente menor em comparação ao SOA das empresas adquirentes, mesmo considerando as diversas variáveis de controle. O SOA das empresas não adquirentes permanece em posição intermediária. Esses resultados em conjunto sugerem que a folga financeira (baixo nível de endividamento e elevado saldo de caixa) seja um fator relevante para as adquirentes em série. Desse modo, tais empresas ajustam seu endividamento de forma mais lenta, em resposta a uma estrutura de capital mais adequada à sua política de investimentos. Por outro lado, as empresas adquirentes eventuais ajustam mais rapidamente sua estrutura de capital em função de sua política de aquisições esporádicas. / The conclusions of surveys on speed of adjustment (SOA) towards the target capital structure are widely divergent as regards the measured speed. Most studies measure the SOA without taking into account certain specificities of the companies or of their strategies. Dividing the sample in non-acquiring companies, sporadic acquiring companies and serial acquirers, this study seeks to investigate the pattern of behavior of the SOA, in the period between 1990 and 2010 for North American companies. Considering several control variables (financial restrictions, growth opportunities, degree of financial leverage and issuance/reduction of debts and shares), we have a more in-depth investigation into how non-acquiring companies, sporadic acquiring companies and serial acquirers adjust their capital structure towards the target. Market leverage value and net market leverage are used as dependent variables. It was verified that the average debt levels for the three samples are different from one another, in a statistically significant manner. The serial acquirers have the lowest leverage, while non-acquiring companies have the highest leverage, with acquirers companies in an intermediate position on the leverage. This result suggests that companies have different debts patterns, due to its investment policy related to acquisitions. The partial adjustment model is employed to measure the SOA, using dynamic panel data with the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) Systemic to measure the speed of adjustment of the capital structure from one period to another. This technique has shown itself to be less biased and has thus been one of the most commonly used techniques in empirical studies. The results show evidence that the SOA may depend of its investment strategy. The SOA of serial acquirers companies is constantly lower than the SOA of acquiring companies, even considering all the control variables. The SOA of non-acquiring companies remains in an intermediate position. Taken together, these results suggest that the financial slack (low debt and high cash balance) is a relevant factor to serial acquirers. Thus such companies adjust their debt more slowly in response to a more adequate capital structure to their investment policy. On the other hand, sporadic acquiring companies adjust faster its capital structure, due to its sporadic acquisition policy.