We find that senior loan lender control is positively associated with a firm's corporate bond yield spread at issuance. A one standard deviation change in the number of covenants on the strictest loan on a firm's balance sheet is associated with a 15 basis points higher yield spread at bond...

This paper studies the effect of senior lender control, as measured by bank loan covenants, on the pricing of new bond issues. We find a U-shaped relation between the number of financial covenants on a firm's loan contract and the bond yield spread. Our results suggest that bondholders initially...