<p>Vi undersöker huruvida de två teorierna Pecking order och Trade-off gemensamt kan förklara utformning av kapitalstruktur och hur beslut gällande denna ser ut hos svenska börsnoterade företag. Vi menar att den aktuella kapitalstrukturen är en konsekvens av den historiska utvecklingen inom företag, där tidigare års finansiella över-/underskott leder till dagens kapitalstruktur och att asymmetrisk information och transaktionskostnader gör att intern finansiering är att föredra framför extern. Företag ser dock fördelar med viss skuldsättning, vilket bidrar till att företag sätter upp en målkapitalstruktur i början av aktuell period. Företags benägenhet att justera sin kapitalstruktur mot denna målkapitalstruktur varierar beroende på vilken situation företaget befinner sig i och olika anpassningshastigheter uppstår till följd av att vissa situationer föredras framför andra. Vi undersöker sambandet mellan målkapitalstruktur och finansiella över-/underskott och hur detta påverkar företags förändring i kapitalstruktur. Våra resultat visar att företag är som mest benägna att förändra sin kapitalstruktur när de har ett finansiellt underskott med en kapitalstruktur över sin målkapitalstruktur och minst benägna att förändra sin kapitalstruktur när de har ett finansiellt överskott och en kapitalstruktur under sin målkapitalstruktur. Både Pecking order och Trade-off har inflytande vid förklaring av företags kapitalstruktursförändring, dock har den ena teorin större betydelse än den andra beroende på vilken situation företag befinner sig i.</p>

Vi undersöker huruvida de två teorierna Pecking order och Trade-off gemensamt kan förklara utformning av kapitalstruktur och hur beslut gällande denna ser ut hos svenska börsnoterade företag. Vi menar att den aktuella kapitalstrukturen är en konsekvens av den historiska utvecklingen inom företag, där tidigare års finansiella över-/underskott leder till dagens kapitalstruktur och att asymmetrisk information och transaktionskostnader gör att intern finansiering är att föredra framför extern. Företag ser dock fördelar med viss skuldsättning, vilket bidrar till att företag sätter upp en målkapitalstruktur i början av aktuell period. Företags benägenhet att justera sin kapitalstruktur mot denna målkapitalstruktur varierar beroende på vilken situation företaget befinner sig i och olika anpassningshastigheter uppstår till följd av att vissa situationer föredras framför andra. Vi undersöker sambandet mellan målkapitalstruktur och finansiella över-/underskott och hur detta påverkar företags förändring i kapitalstruktur. Våra resultat visar att företag är som mest benägna att förändra sin kapitalstruktur när de har ett finansiellt underskott med en kapitalstruktur över sin målkapitalstruktur och minst benägna att förändra sin kapitalstruktur när de har ett finansiellt överskott och en kapitalstruktur under sin målkapitalstruktur. Både Pecking order och Trade-off har inflytande vid förklaring av företags kapitalstruktursförändring, dock har den ena teorin större betydelse än den andra beroende på vilken situation företag befinner sig i.

In order for companies to be competetive on the market, there’s a need of capital. If a company is in a need of capital to make major investments and isn’t able to prioritize internal funding, the priority will be external financing with safe securities; loans. How companies should prioritize the allocation between equity and debt, which together form value, leads us to the subject of capital structure. The purpose of the study is to examine what possible relationship; P/E-ratio, tangible assets, size, profitability and inflation have on leverage, for listed companies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange between the years 2008-2012. The study use a quantitative method of a collection of annual report data. The conclution shows that P/E ratio, tangible assets and inflation have no relationship with leverage. Size showed the strongest positive relationship and profitability of the strongest negative relationship. The authors conclude that the trade-off theory, both contradict and support the results of the study and the authors find support for the Pecking order theory.

Cost of debt is a key cognitive anchor for managerial decisions and an important determinant of firm profitability. We extend international management research by analyzing the effects of institutional distance, institutional quality, and their dynamics on the cost of debt in the context of foreign direct investments (FDI). We test our conceptual model on a sample of companies making 3,764 greenfield foreign direct investments from developed into less developed markets. Using hierarchical linear modelling, we show that the financial consequences of internationalizing into countries with weak institutions depend on both the institutional distance between countries, as well as their institutional quality. Furthermore, we find that recent changes in institutional quality form expectations about future development and ultimately influence post investment financing costs.

This thesis examines the determinants of capital structure in the MENA coun- tries. The main interest is to investigate both financial firms specially banks and non-financial firms. This study test the main theories of capital structure, namely: trade off theory and pecking order theory. The countries included in this thesis are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (Include both Abo-Dhabi and Dubai stock indexes), Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Palestine and Jor- dan. The characteristics it covers as suggested by previous literature are tangibility, profitability, risk, debt tax shield, growth, dividends,size, cash flow and liquidity. It will also investigate the effect of the industry, credit rating and ownership structure on the capital structure This study also investigates the determinants of capital structure in Islamic and conventional banks. This is one of the first attempts to empirically examine the determinants of capital structure in Islamic and conventional banks in general and in MENA countries in particular. This study fills the gap in this important area of research and can provide a base for future research on capital structure in Islamic banks. This thesis use different models to test the capital structure and these are Panel data models (OLS, Fixed, and Random); Tobit and Dynamical model (Arellano-Bover Blundell-Bond), Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Generalised Regression Neural Networks (GRNN). The results suggest that the three methods used in this study lead to similar re- sults with a few exceptions in some countries. This thesis finds that the relation between leverage and the determinants of capital structure is different when using the market or the book leverage. It also finds that the determinants of capital struc- ture between the MENA countries are different. For example, profitability attribute relation with leverage follow the trade-off theory in some countries and follow the picking order theory in other countries. Also, liquidity is significant in all the countries in the sample and have a negative relation to leverage. In addition, tangibility is found to have a mixed results with some countries following the trade-off theory and other countries which follow the trade-off theory but overall it is a key determinant of capital structure. Additionally, the findings show that although that the majority of firms in the MENA countries don’t pay dividends the relation between the long term debt and leverage is negative in all the countries in the sample. The growth opportunities have a negative relation in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar and Tunisia but positive in rest of the countries. The cash flow attribute have a negative relation with leverage in all the countries in the sample except Saudi Arabia and Qatar when using the short and long term debt. Furthermore, the ownership variable is expected to have a negative relation when the ultimate owner is an institution. The results show that overall when there is an ultimate owner the leverage will have a negative relation. Suggesting that ultimate owners will force managers to keep a low debt in firms capital structure. This PhD also attempt to investigate the capital structure in banks within the MENA countries. A special focus is on the differences between the Islamic banks and conventional banks capital structure. First, the findings show that the banks follow the same determinants of capital structure as non-financial firms and that regulations are not the main determinant of capital structure in banks. Then, This study show that there is a difference in capital structure of Islamic banks in com- parison with conventional banks. The findings for the dividends variable show that Islamic banks do not follow the pecking order theory but conventional banks don’t. The results of the size variable show that when Islamic banks are large they use less debt in their capital structure. Growth variable show mixed results depending on the use of book or market leverage. Ownership structure show that when there is an ultimate owner leverage increase which is the reverse of the relation in the non-financial firms. The age variable is negative in relation to the book leverage and positive with the market leverage. Also, credit rating relation is different between the two banks, as it is positive with the conventional banks and negative with Islamic banks. Therefore, this study conclude that the main capital structure theories are applicable to MENA countries. Also indicate that Islamic banks have a different capital structure to conventional banks.

This thesis examines three aspects of capital structure of manufacturing, mining and retail firms listed on Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE). Firstly, it tests for the validity of the pecking order, the static trade-off and the dynamic trade-off theories in the context of South African manufacturing, mining and retail firms. The study used data from 42 manufacturing, 24 mining and 21 retail firms with complete data for four or more consecutive years during 2000-2010 (panel 1) to test the validity of these theories. The research hypotheses were formulated and tested using generalised least squares (GLS) random effects, maximum likelihood (ML) random effects, fixed effects, Prais-Winsten regression, Arellano and Bond, Blundell and Bond and the random effects Tobit models. Secondly, the thesis examines the impact of the firm’s key financial performance variables on firm leverage and speed of target adjustment. A panel of 49 manufacturing, 24 mining and 23 retail firms with complete data for two or more consecutive years during the period 2005-2010 (panel 2) was constructed and used in this test. The research hypotheses were formulated and tested using the same regression models used in panel 1. Lastly, the thesis examines the existence of the discounted value premium in manufacturing, mining and retail firms listed on the JSE. This study was done using panel of 47 manufacturing, 31 mining and 20 retail firms with complete data for four or more consecutive years during the period 2006-2010. A simple t-test was used to evaluate the significance of the sample’s discounted value premium. The study documents that firm growth rate, non-debt tax shields, financial distress, profitability, capital expenditure, asset tangibility, price earnings, ordinary share prices and changes in working capital were significant predictors of firm leverage. Dividend paid, capital expenditure, firm growth rate, profitability, cash flow from operations and economic value added were positively correlated to leverage. Asset tangibility, firm profitability, non-debt tax shields, financial distress, liquidity, price earnings, share price and retention rate were negatively correlated to leverage. Asset tangibility, financial distress, firm growth, non-debt tax shields, and long-term debt repaid were negatively correlated to changes in debt issued, whilst profitability, actual dividend paid, capital expenditure and changes in working capital were positively correlated. These results confirm the complementary nature of the trade-off and pecking order theories. Furthermore, the firms had positive and significant speeds of adjustment. In panel 1, the true speed of adjustment for the sample was 57.64% (0.81 years) for book-to-debt ratio (BDR) and 42.44% (1.25 years) for market-to-debt (MDR). The speed for manufacturing firms was 45.08% (1.16 years) for BDR and 44.59% (1.17 years) for MDR; for mining firms, 72.07% (0.54 years) for BDR and 56.45% (0.83 years) for MDR; and for retail firms, 28.42% (2.07 years) for BDR and 42.48% (1.25 years) for MDR. In panel 2, the true speed of adjustment for the sample was 64.20% for book-to-debt ratio (BDR) and 28.11% for market-to-debt ratio (MDR). The true speed for manufacturing firms was 34.42% for BDR and 30.56% for MDR; for mining firms, 69.59% for BDR and 45.77% for MDR; and for retail firms, 9.34% for BDR. These results confirm the validity of the dynamic trade-off theory. Finally, manufacturing, mining and retail firms had a positive discounted value premium. This ranged from 5.16% to 9.48% (on perpetual growth), with mining firms having the largest (9.48%), followed by manufacturing (8.54%) and retail firms (5.16%). Of the observations for the full sample, 92.23% showed a positive discounted value premium. This evidence on the speed of adjustment and discounted value premium suggests the existence of a target capital structure different from the theoretical optimal capital structure hypothesised by the static trade-off theory. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Financial Management / unrestricted

The topic of capital structure has been one that has plagued the academic world for a number of years. There have been numerous works published on the subject which have presented such theories as the Modigliani and Miller Propositions, the Trade-off Theory, Pecking Order Theory, Signaling Theory and Agency Cost Theory to name a few. However, little research has been done on the application of these and other theories to banking institutions located in Southern Africa. This adds increased complexity to the determining of a local bank’s capital structure policy and the difficulty is further exacerbated by the increased application of regulatory control. In the wake of the recent global financial crisis, banking institutions have been placed under the spotlight and their capital adequacy levels come into question. A need was identified to investigate the impact that capital adequacy has on a bank’s performance and whether it achieves its purpose of increasing stability amongst banks. This study analysed the determinants of the capital structure of banks in South Africa based on secondary financial data and by performing this analysis attempted to establish trends in capital structure policy and regulatory compliance. The study also attempted to identify best practices that contribute to the overall value and performance of the banking institution. The expectation is that the correct application of capital structure theory and compliance with regulations will decrease a bank’s risk profile and in turn result in a more stable monetary system and economy. Overall, the results of the analysis were inconclusive, but lay the basis for potential future research. Conclusions drawn from the results and literature create greater understanding of the dynamics of capital structure and its implications to South African Banks. Copyright 2011, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Naidu, W 2011, The implications of capital structure theory and regulation for South African banking institutions, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-01272012-122305 / > C12/4/97/gm / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Financial Management / unrestricted

Gröna obligationer, ett obligationslån där lånet måste knytas till ett hållbart projekt, är ettväxande begrepp i världen. Sverige är ett av de länder i framkant vad gäller användandet avdenna typ av obligationer. Allt fler investerare är måna om att investera i hållbara alternativ,där just gröna obligationer dykt upp som ett möjligt val. Men vilka motivationsfaktorer finnsdet som får företagen att vilja emittera dessa? Denna studie syftar till att besvara frågan om detråder några skillnader i lönsamhet för bolag som har emitterat gröna obligationer gentemot desom inte har.Utifrån författarnas kännedom finns det ingen liknande studie genomförd på den svenskamarknaden för tillfället. En tidigare studie har dock genomförts på den kinesiska marknadenmed ett resultat som påvisar en positiv relation mellan lönsamhet och gröna obligationer tillföljd av bolagets möjlighet att sänka sin kapitalkostnad.Studien genomfördes utifrån data mellan 2019-2021 på den svenska Large Cap marknaden.Både för hela men också specifikt för sektorer där gröna obligationer har tillämpats merfrekvent. Avkastning på totalt kapital (ROA) har använts som lönsamhetsmått medan grönaobligationer utgjorts av en binär variabel där de olika bolagen tilldelats en etta eller nollaberoende på om de haft gröna obligationer under hela det mätta året respektive inte. Studienhar tagit avstamp från trade-off och pecking-order theory som har sina synsätt på hur bolag börhantera sin skuldsättningsgrad och prioritera sina valmöjligheter att ta in ny finansiering.Studien har även använt sig av aktieägarteorin och intressentteorin för att återkoppla tillbolagens bakomliggande motiveringar att fatta de beslut de tar.Resultatet från studien visade inget signifikant samband mellan lönsamhet och grönaobligationer för svenska Large Cap eller för de branscherna som testades enskilt. Denna studiehar trots det bidragit med ny kunskap om hur relationen mellan gröna obligationer ochlönsamhet ser ut på en marknad där det inte testats förut.

Sustainability is a subject that seems to continuously gain popularity and importance in society.Hence, many aspects of the business world also revolve around the matter. One view onsustainability is that the current generation should act in a manner that allows the next generationto have similar foundations to prosper. An important factor in this involves the investment effortsfrom the companies, in particular the industrial companies. Therefore, this thesis aims toinvestigate the potential influence that recently increased interest rates have on sustainabilityefforts within Swedish manufacturing businesses. The responses to this phenomenon have beendiverse, with arguments that sustainability initiatives will remain unaffected, others suggestingadverse effects, and a few proposing that only a reduced demand following increased rates willbe impacted. Consequently, the purpose of this research was to gain valuable insights into theimplications of changing business climates on sustainability work and investments with theresearch question being what insights can be gained regarding sustainability efforts by exploringthe experiences of companies facing increased interest rates? We interviewed six listed Swedishcompanies with a production line to gain a deeper understanding from their experiences on howthey face increased interest rates and balance their sustainability efforts. This thesis draws uponseveral theoretical frameworks, including the stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory, trade-offtheory and corporate social responsibility (CSR). These theoretical perspectives provide acomprehensive foundation for understanding the complexities and dynamics surroundingsustainability efforts in the context of changing interest rates.To gather the necessary insights, this research employed a qualitative approach in theinterpretivist paradigm, conducting semi-structured interviews with a purposive non-probabilitysample of six participants. By capturing the experiences and perspectives of the participants, thestudy aims to generate rich and nuanced data that can improve our understanding of the impactof increased interest rates on sustainability efforts. Our analysis of the empirical results revealedthat these companies, despite potential challenges, remain committed to their sustainability goalsand efforts. They have not perceived any immediate threats to their goals due to increased interestrates.Thus, sustainable investments remain a critical aspect of companies’ strategies to meet globalsustainability goals. Motivated by legitimacy, stakeholder expectations and CSR commitments,companies integrate sustainability into their operations and influence stakeholders to participatein sustainable value creation. While the effects of interest rate hikes are diverse, companiesmaintain their sustainability efforts and strive to achieve their goals although potential risks andchallenges may arise in the future.

Syfte: Företagens miljömässiga ansvar har blivit en allt mer central fråga för företagets intressenter. Tidigare studier som har behandlat relationen mellan Corporate Environmental Performance CEP och Financial Performance FP har resulterat i varierande utfall. Två faktorer som anses påverka denna relation är olikheter mellan branscher och brister i det interna organisationsarbetet. För att få en tydligare bild av relationen mellan CEP och FP behöver forskningen utvecklas för företag som agerar i en ur miljösynpunkt tung bransch. Syftet med studien är att förklara om det finns ett samband mellan CEP och FP i fossila bränsleintensiva företag och se om sambandet är starkare eller svagare om företaget använder en CSR-kommitté. Metod: Studien utgår från en positivistisk forskningsfilosofi med en deduktiv ansats. Studien har en kvantitativ strategi och har formats av en longitudinell design, där sekundärdata har inhämtats för åren 2014-2017 från databasen Thomson Reuters Datastream. Detta har genererat ett urval bestående av 827 publika bolag från hela världen vars data har analyserats i statistikprogrammet SPSS och presenteras i tabeller. Resultat &amp; slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att det finns ett positivt samband mellan miljödimensionen CEP och den finansiella prestationen mätt utifrån både redovisningsmåttet ROE och marknadsmåttet Tobins Q för fossila bränsleintensiva företag. För de fossila bränsleintensiva företagen med en CSR-kommitté visade även resultatet ett starkare samband mellan CEP och FP än för företag utan CSR-kommitté. En jämförelse mellan olika sektorer visade en tydlig variation mellan resultaten, där vissa sektorer hade ett negativt samband mellan CEP och FP. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar till den empiriska forskningen och utökar förståelsen för relationen mellan CEP och FP genom att studera fossila bränsleintensiva företag, som är en miljömässigt tung bransch. Studien bidrar även med teoretisk information om huruvida kontinuerligt arbete via CSR-kommittéer påverkar denna relation. Vidare ger studien ett praktiskt bidrag genom att uppmuntra företag att engagera sig i CEP-aktiviteter, istället för uppkomsten av tvingande miljöregleringar, för att nå lönsamhet. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Ett förslag till fortsatt forskning är att gå djupare ner bland fler sektorer för att kunna se skillnader mellan branscher och göra djupare analyser mellan dessa för att få en större förståelse om relationen mellan CEP och FP. Det kan också finnas skillnader mellan företag av olika storlek, därför är ett andra förslag att dela upp och jämföra resultaten mellan stora och små företag. / Aim: The company's environmental responsibility has become an increasingly central issue for the company's stakeholders. Earlier studies that have addressed the relationship between Corporate Environmental Performance CEP and Financial Performance FP have resulted in varying outcomes. Two factors that are considered to affect this relationship are differences between industries and shortcomings in internal organization work. In order to get a clearer picture of the relationship between CEP and FP, research needs to be developed for companies acting in an environmentally heavy industry. The purpose of the study is to explain if there is a connection between CEP and FP in fossil fuel firms and see if the association is stronger or weaker if the company uses a CSR committée. Method: This study is based on a positivistic research philosophy with a deductive approach. The study has a quantitative strategy and has been formed of a longitudinal design, where secondary data has been collected for the years 2014-2017 from the Thomson Reuters Datastream database. This has generated a sample of 827 public companies worldwide whose data has been analyzed in the SPSS statistics program and presented in tables. Result &amp; Conclusions: The result of the study shows that there is a positive correlation between the environmental dimension CEP and the financial performance, measured based on both the accounting measure ROE and the market measure Tobins Q for fossil fuel firms. For the fossil fuel firms with a CSR committée, the result also showed a stronger relationship between CEP and FP than for companies without a CSR committée. A comparison between sectors showed a clear variation between the results, where some sectors had a negative link between CEP and FP. Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes to empirical research and understanding of the relationship between CEP and FP by studying fossil fuel firms, which is an environmentally heavy industry. The study also contributes with theoretical information about whether continuous work through CSR committees affects this relationship. The study also provides a practical contribution by encouraging companies to engage in CEP activities, instead of the emergence of compelling environmental regulations, to achieve profitability. Suggestions for future research: A proposal for further research is to go deeper into more sectors to see differences between industries and to make deeper analyzes between them to gain a better understanding of the relationship between CEP and FP. There may also be differences between companies of different sizes, so a second proposal is to divide and compare the results between large and small companies.