We examine cash holdings and leverage levels of German listed (non-financial and non-utility) firms. We document a secular increase in cash ratios over the last twenty years (1992–2011), reducing the net debt book leverage ratio for the average sample firm close to zero. Using pre-diction...

This study tests whether underpricing is subject to the controlling shareholder group's discretion in a sample of German IPOs from 1997 to 2002. This question is important since previous researchers (Allen and Faulhaber (1989), Welch (1998), Grinblatt and Hwang (1989), Brennan and Franks (1997)...

The global financial crisis significantly affected the viability of the financial system and the structure of equity markets. In this study, we investigate the phenomenon of family and non-family firms' delisting decisions from the Prime Standard, the highest regulated stock market segment in...

In contrast to common literature that suggests that trade credit is an extremely expensive source of financing with annual interest rates exceeding 40 percent, this paper argues that the average interest rate of trade credit does not exceed the cost of alternative funds, with estimated average...

This study investigates the listing of IPOs and the delisting from the Prime Standard, the highest regulated stock exchange segment in Germany. The German Stock Exchange instituted this market segment subsequent to the high-technology new economy period in 2003. For a sample of 531 firms, we...

We examine a large and unique panel containing survey and financial statement data on small and medium sized private enterprises (SMEs) in Germany from 1991 to 2011. From the survey data, we derive a financial constraints measure based on managers' self-perception. We find that our measure...

The shape of the yield curve determines the relationship between interest rate risk and return of investments. Should the longterm oriented investor or financier choose short- or long term bonds or loans? The management decision of the “right” maturity depends on three form-giving factors of...

Die Energiewende verläuft langsamer als geplant. Offensichtlich bleiben private Investoren zurückhaltend, obwohl das Zinsniveau niedrig ist, politische Zugeständnisse bei der Risikoverteilung gemacht wurden und erhebliche Fördersummen insbesondere über das Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz...

Im Januar 2014 haben die Autoren untersucht, ob Investitionen in Offshore-Windanlagen unter den damaligen Rahmenbedingungen rentabel waren und welche Risiken als besonders relevant für die Umsetzung von Projekten erachtet werden müssen. Im April 2014 wurde der Gesetzentwurf zum novellierten...

There are noticeable differences between the roles that various forms of credit financing play in family businesses and in other businesses. Family businesses take out more often bank loans specifically to finance investments and innovations, and they particularly often resort to the short-term...