This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the determinants for the optimal choice of contract terms on a unique type of debt instrument: Eurobonds. A discussion of corporate finance theories that postulate the use of debt contract features for mitigating financing inefficiencies provides the foundation for the development of the empirical investigation. More specifically, theories that associate the choice of debt features namely, maturity, call options, convertible options, and protective covenants with firm's and market's characteristics are discussed in detail. Emphasis is also given to the theoretical predictions about the interdependencies established between the debt features that are viewed as alternative control devises for mitigating debt-contracting costs. Panel data and simultaneous-equations estimation methods are used to regress the relevant debt features on a set of proxies for firm characteristics, market conditions, and related contract features for a sample of 377 Eurobonds issued by UK companies over the period 1986-1999. The evidence from both panel data and simultaneous-equations analyses provide strong support to the prediction that both callable and short-term debt and convertible and debt with protective covenants are used as alternative control devises to mitigate agency costs. Further evidence suggests, however, that contrary to the fundamentals guiding the choice of maturity and callability structures, the use of convertible options and protective covenants in Eurobond contracts seems to be determined by equity agency costs rather than debt agency costs. Some support is also found for the risk uncertainty theory underlying the use of convertibles and for the liquidity risk arguments regarding the choice of protective covenants. No support is found for signalling and interest tax-shield hypotheses. Some proposals for further research on debt contract design are identified and discussed.

No description available.

Boilerplate contracts made by an entrepreneur Abstract The diploma thesis thematically focuses on an issue of contracts of adhesion which are concluded by entrepreneur in the course of trade. Contracts of adhesion are characterised by a specific, adhesive, method of entering into contracts based on the principle of take it or leave it which relies on the fact that the basic terms of contract are determined by one of the contractual parties which results in reducing the options of the weaker contractual party to full acceptance of unilaterally determined basic terms of contract or to the rejection of the contract as a whole. The aim of this diploma thesis is the presentation of a comprehensive analysis of the legal institute of contracts of adhesion de lege lata which is completed by synthesis of the insights in question into relevant theoretical and practical conclusions, including considerations de lege ferenda. The legal institute of contracts of adhesion with regard to the aim of the diploma thesis is subjected to theoretical analysis from the point of view of historical development, from the point of view of definition of the thematically relevant legal concepts de lege lata which are entrepreneur, weaker entrepreneur, consumer or legal regimes of contractual relations, from the point of view of...

Taika suteikia galimybę užtikrinti santykių darną, abipusį supratimą, kiekvienam bendrų ir visiems skirtingų poreikių patenkinimą. Taikos siekimas reikalauja įtempto darbo ir didelių pastangų: siekiant taikos, einama lygybės, kompromiso ir abipusės (daugiašalės) satisfakcijos kryptimi. Tik pačios konfliktuojančios šalys žino, koks rezultatas joms būtų priimtinas, patenkinantis jų interesus, teikiantis pasitenkinimą konkrečioje situacijoje ir užkertantis kelią atsinaujinantiems nesutarimams dėl to paties dalyko. Civilinių teisinių santykių subjektų ginčas efektyviai gali būti išsprendžiamas taikos sutartimi. Šio teisinio instrumento panaudojimas ginčo sureguliavimui įgalina pasiekti bendrą sprendimą, dažniausiai šalis įpareigojantį ir vykdomą dėl jo priimtinumo susitariantiesiems. Magistrinio darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti Lietuvos Respublikos teismams pateikiamų tvirtinti civilinius teisinius santykius reglamentuojančių taikos sutarčių turinio ypatumus. Darbe glaustai analizuojama lietuvių ir užsienio mokslinės literatūros šaltiniuose bei šalies teisės aktuose įtvirtinta taikos sutarties samprata, įvardijami taikos sutarties turiniui ir formai keliami reikalavimai, apžvelgiami taikos sutartimis išsprendžiamų konfliktų ypatumai, nustatomos taikos sutarčių panaudojimo praktikoje problemos, samprotaujama apie teismuose patvirtintų taikos sutarčių turinio įvertinimo kokybę. Atsižvelgiant į magistriniame darbe atliktą Lietuvos Respublikos teismuose patvirtintų taikos sutarčių... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Peace enables to ensure consistency of terms, mutual understanding, satisfaction of each common and all different needs. The pursuit of peace requires hard work and huge efforts: in the process of striving for peace, the course of equality, compromise and mutual (multilateral) satisfaction has to be set. It is only the conflicting parties know what the result would be acceptable to them to fit their interests, satisfying in a given situation and preventing from renewable disagreements on the same issue. Legal relations in civil litigation can be effectively resolved with the settled contract. The application of this legal instrument allows resolving the dispute and arriving to common decision, usually binding and thus enforceable due to its acceptability for both contracting parties. The aim of this masters’ theses is to analyze the specific features of the content of settlements of civil legal relations submitted for approval to the courts of the Republic of Lithuania. The paper briefly analyzes the concept of settled contracts embedded in Lithuanian and foreign sources and national legislation, identifies the content and format requirements; an overview of specific features of settled contracts in resolved conflicts are presented, problems of practical applications of settled contracts are determined, the quality assessment of the content of settled contracts approved in courts is considered. Taking into account the analysis of the approved settled contracts in the courts... [to full text]

Two essays are comprised in this dissertation to explore how market friction affects the processes of price formation. The first essay investigates on both theoretical and empirical bases how segmentation of communication amongst potential lenders can influence loan contracts. Two cases are considered. The first one assumes that potential lenders can freely communicate with each other; the second one assumes that each potential lender can only observe the decisions of its predecessors. I show theoretically that the ex post observed interest rate will be higher and the probability of syndication failure will be lower if the potential lenders cannot communicate freely with each other. These predictions are confirmed by my empirical work. Using a novel proxy, relational distance, for the segmentation of communication, I show that the larger the relational distance, the higher is the loan spread and the lower is the probability of syndication failure. In addition, the relational distance is positively correlated with the probability of the existence of non-price contract terms, such as the requirement for collateral and guarantees. My conclusions are found to be robust to endogeneity issues, potentially omitted variables and alternative model specifications. The second essay focuses on the informational effects between futures market and its spot market. Intraday data are used to investigate the lead-lag relationship between the TX returns, the TX trading activity and the TAIEX stock index returns. I focus on the transmission direction and the source of information and find that there are specific lead-lag relationships between futures returns and spot returns, in addition to the contemporaneous relationship predicted by carry-cost theory and efficient market theory. The results show that futures returns significantly lead spot returns, which suggests that informed trades occur in the futures market and makes information flows from the futures market to the spot market. By distinguishing different types of futures traders and using private information, net open buy, as a proxy for futures trading activity, I found that the major source of informed trades is foreign institutional traders because their trading activity have predictive power for future movements in both spot and futures prices. In contrary, traders in the other categories carry no information about the directional changes in both spot and futures prices.

Le lien existant entre un sujet de droit (le consommateur) et un domaine du droit aussi technique que l’assurance n’est pas facile à appréhender. Son étude est pourtant nécessaire en égard à l’importance pratique de la question – les contrats d’assurance se comptent pas millions et les procès par milliers – et à son actualité fortement marquée par la « loi Hamon » du 17 mars 2014. Par-delà ces considérations, il est courant de souligner que, confronté à l’assurance, le consommateur est dans une situation de faiblesse et qu’il doit être protégé. Mais quelle branche du droit, du droit de la consommation ou du droit des assurances est la mieux à même de le faire ? Et des conflits de normes peuvent-ils survenir ? A cet égard, la protection offerte par le droit de la consommation est indéniable, notamment en matière d’information du consommateur ou de lutte contre les clauses abusives. Mais le droit des assurances n’a pas attendu l’avènement du courant consumériste pour protéger tout assuré et pas seulement les consommateurs. De ce point de vue, les deux droits n’ont pas la même conception ni du consommateur d’assurance, ni de ma manière dont l’assurance du consommateur doit être réglementée. Ce sont deux axes autour desquels la thèse s’articule. Celle-ci traite aussi bien des personnes à protéger que de l’étendue de la protection, en insistant pour chaque thème sur les conflits de normes réels ou potentiels. / Analysing the link between a subject of law (the consumer) and a technical law area as technical as insurance law is not an easy task. Yet, such a study is necessary in view of the pratical importance of the issue – there are millions of insurance contracts underwritten and thousands of lawsuits – and given the highly topical « loi Hamon » adopted on March 17, 2014. Moreover it is a well-known fact that consumer is in a weak position xhen facing insurance and therefore requires protection. But wich area of law is best placed to protect him : consumer law or insurance law ? And may conflicts of laws arise ? Indeed consumer law offers an undoubted protection, in particular with regards to consumer information and fight against unfair contracts termes. However, insurance law dit not wait for the advent of consumerism to protect every policy holder and not only consumers. Both laws do not share the same view of insurance consumer nor of the way consumer insurance must be regulated. This thesis hangs on those two majors hinges. It defines not only who are the individuals to be protected but also what is the scope of that protection. In each case, actual and potential conflict of laws are specifically highlighted.

The concept of cloud computing describes a business model in which multiple service providers pool their resources to serve customers online. The ability to pool and assign resources as needed, to deliver services based on accurate usage metrics, to rapidly scale up or down, to deliver services on demand, and to give customers access from any location are just a few of the many benefits of cloud computing. Many organizations and people are interested in cloud computing, but they are also apprehensive of it because of concerns about data security, data availability, and other issues. In this thesis, the topic of vendor lock-in in cloud computing is investigated, as is the role that proprietary technology, contract terms, and network effects play in maintaining this issue in Swedish organizations. The research investigates the various ways in which these characteristics restrict businesses' ability to be flexible and independent by creating barriers that prevent them from switching cloud providers. The thesis addresses these concerns by presenting three potential solutions to the problem of vendor lock-in. These solutions include the utilization of open-source technology, the implementation of a multi-cloud, and an exit strategy. This thesis intends to assist organizations in controlling the risks that relate to cloud computing and vendor lock-in by giving guidance on the subject and providing solutions to the issues that have been identified.

Der erste Artikel analysiert den Einfluss von CDS Handel auf Kreditsyndizierung. Theoretisch können CDS sowohl positive wie auch negative Effekte haben. Auf der einen Seite sind CDS flexiblere Risikomanagement-Instrumente als Kredit Verkäufe. Auf der andern Seite kann ein Kreditgeber nicht glaubhaft versichern einen Kreditnehmer zu überwachen, wenn Kreditrisiko anonym mit CDS abgelegt werden kann (moral hazard). Wir finden, dass Kreditgeber signifikant höhere Anteile an Krediten halten, wenn CDS auf das Fremdkapital des Kreditnehmers gehandelt werden. Wir finden keine Evidenz für moral hazard. Der zweite Artikel untersucht den Einfluss von Manager Optimismus auf die Verwendung von performance-abhängigen Vertragsklauseln in Kreditverträgen (PSD). Gegeben ihrer verzerrten Erwartungen über die zukünftige Performance der Firma könnten optimistische Manager PSD als günstige Finanzierungsmöglichkeit ansehen. Wir finden, dass optimistische Manager mehr PSD nutzen und schlechter nach der Ausgabe von PSD performen als rationale Manager. Der dritte Artikel untersucht, ob PSD genutzt werden kann um hold-up Probleme in langfristigen Kreditbeziehungen zu verringern. Wir finden, dass PSD mehr in Hausbankbeziehungen genutzt wird – insbesondere wenn der Kreditnehmer wenig alternative Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten besitzt. Des Weiteren finden wir einen Substitutionseffekt zwischen der Stärkte von Finanz-Covenants und der Nutzung von PSD. Diese Resultate stützen die Hypothese, dass PSD genutzt wird um hold-up Probleme zu mindern. / The first paper analyzes the impact of credit default swap (CDS) trading on loan syndication. Theoretically, CDS can have both positive and negative effects. One the one hand, CDS are a flexible risk management tool and can therefore replace loan sales (risk management). On the other hand, lenders can no longer credibly commit to monitor a borrower if laying off credit risk anonymously via CDS is possible making loan sales costly (moral hazard). We find that lenders retain significantly higher shares of loans once CDS are actively traded on a borrower’s debt. We find no evidence for moral hazard. The second paper examines the impact of managerial optimism on the inclusion of performance-pricing provisions in debt contracts (PSD). Given their upwardly biased expectations about the firm''s future cash flow, optimistic managers may view PSD as a relatively cheap form of financing. We find that optimistic managers are more likely to issue PSD. Consistent with their biased expectations, firms with optimistic managers perform worse than firms with rational managers after issuing PSD. The third paper examines if PSD is used to reduce hold- up problems in long-term lending relationships. We find that the use of PSD is more common in the presence of a long-term lending relationship and if the borrower has fewer financing alternatives available. Further, we find a substitution effect between the use of PSD and the tightness of financial covenants. This result also supports our hypothesis that hold-up concerns motivate the use of PSD.

Abstract   This study analyses the translation of a technical guidebook in the subject field of hydropower generation. The aim is to identify and apply functional translation theories when translating general technical terms, industry terms and contract terms. The theoretical basis for the study consists of Eugene Nida’s and Vinay & Darbelnet’s models for translation as well as theories on terminology by Rune Ingo and Therésa Cabré. During the translation process, technical terms were identified and subsequently translated using one or more of the theories described. The result was then analysed and discussed. Although the study is not comprehensive enough to draw significant conclusions, the result indicates that in order to render the best possible translation of technical terms, a combination of theories and methods are best applied; direct translation regarding systematized terminology similar to general technical terms and oblique translation, or dynamic equivalence, regarding industry terms and contract terms. The results further suggest that structural analysis is of great value in order to determine the correct level of the term. In addition, the translator’s experience and knowledge of the subject field as well as readiness to consult parallel texts seem to be vital to the outcome of the translation.

Recent case law from the ECJ on one of the most important EU contract law legislation has left questions open about the compatibility of Swedish con­tract law with the Unfair Contracts Term Directive. The case law on Article 6 (1) in the directive seem to have changed the view on how to deal with the legal consequence of an unfair term in consumer contracts; namely that unfair terms cannot be adjusted but need to be declared invalid. This essay examines how the effects from the ECJ case law provide new light upon Swedish contract law. The effect creates a clash of ideas and rationalities between Union law and Swedish contract law. Unfair terms cannot be adjusted as the relevant Swedish legislation provides. An unfair term needs to be invalid, and if necessary, such an unfair term can in certain circumstances be complemented with default rules from national contract law. This does not only seem to change the interpretation and application of the Swedish law, but it also form an underlying tension between the instrumental market-functional Union law and the more jus­tice oriented Swedish private law.  Furthermore, as we move towards a new European civil code, perhaps these tensions and clashes may say something about where the discipline of European Private Law is headed.