This paper examines the motivations for large firms to choose an Islamic loan over a conventional loan and the recent expansion of Islamic finance activities. We employ a dataset of Islamic and conventional syndicated loans from countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for the period...

We investigate bank loans’ specialness with a particular focus on the recent boom and bust cycle. We perform an empirical analysis using event study methodology on a sample of 253 large loan announcements for French borrowers between January 2000 and December 2009. We find a significant and...

Using a large sample of bank loan renegotiations by European firms, I show that renegotiation of financial contracts matters for shareholders and can increase their wealth. I find that amendments to financial covenants and to loan amounts increase borrower’s cumulative abnormal return by 10%...

Sukuk, the shari’a-compliant alternative mode of financing to conventional bonds, have considerably expanded over the last decade. We analyze the stock market reaction to two key features of sukuk: type and characteristics of the shari’a scholar certifying the issue. We use the event study...

Debt renegotiation matters for the borrower-lender relationship to ensure the credit agreement is regularly amended to include new information and make it more “complete”. I investigate the determinants of the dynamics of bank loan renegotiations using a sample of 1 600 amendments to private...

Reputation of financial institutions is crucial for their activity and performance. Participant banks often rely on lead bank’s reputation in making future syndicated loan participation and lending decisions. We apply ordered probit regression techniques to a sample of more than 4,600 loans to...

With the large expansion of Islamic finance in the recent years, sukuk, which are the Sharia-compliant substitute to conventional bonds, are now becoming more prominent. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of sukuk issuance on firm performance. To do so, we analyze how stock market...

We investigate the network structure of syndicated lending markets and evaluate the impact of lenders’ network centrality, considered as measures of their experience and reputation, on borrowing costs. We show that the market for syndicated loans is a “small world” characterized by large...

Bank loan syndicate structure can be considered as an organizational response to agency problems stemming from the syndication process. The banking environment also influences the syndication process. We investigate how syndicate structure is influenced by the characteristics of the banking...

This paper tackles the question of knowing whether collateral helps solve adverse selection problems in transition countries. We use a unique dataset of about 400 bank loans from 16 transition countries. Our findings support the view of a positive link between the presence of collateral and the...