Interest coverage covenants, which set a maximum ratio of interest payments to earnings, are among the most popular provisions in firm debt contracts. For affected firms, the amount of additional debt that can be issued without violating these covenants is highly sensitive to interest rates....

I study the empirical importance of debt overhang using a unique dataset on resource extraction firms, which provides ex ante measures of investment opportunities and important variation in the terms of a firm's obligations. In particular, unsecured reclamation liabilities create overhang that...

We evaluate whether management risk, coming from uncertainty about management's value added, affects firms' default risks and debt pricing. We find that, regardless of the reason for the turnover, CDS spreads, loan spreads and bond yield spreads all increase at the time of management turnover,...

We analyze shareholders' incentives to change the leverage of a firm that has already borrowed substantially. As a result of debt overhang, shareholders have incentives to resist reductions in leverage that make the remaining debt safer. This resistance is present even without any government...

Recent research questions the existence of a conglomerate discount. This study addresses two of the most important explanations for the conglomerate discount and finds evidence in support of an economically and statistically significant discount. The first explanation is that the risk-reducing...

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht anhand von europäischen Firmendaten den Einfluss der Körperschaftsteuer auf die Unternehmensverschuldung. Dabei wird insbesondere auf Firmenheterogentität in Bezug auf Firmengröße und Gesellschaftsform fokussiert. Der verwendete Datensatz enthält...

The maintenance of financial liquidity, stability, profitability and the value and investment capabilities of a company as well as the avoidance of financial bottlenecks are the most vital objectives of people in charge of ac ompany, especially in times of crisis. This paper presents the...

This paper investigates the determinants of liability maturity choice in transition markets. We formulate a model of firm value maximization that describes managers' choice of optimal debt structure. The theoretical predictions are tested using a unique panel of 4,300 Ukrainian firms during the...

When a firm has external debt and monitoring by shareholders is essential, managerial bonuses are shown to be an optimal solution. A small managerial bonus linked to firm's performance not only reduces moral hazard between managers and shareholders, but also between creditors and monitoring...

This paper analyzes the influence the tax effect has on optimum SME debt maturity structure. Unlike previous research, this study builds a dynamic adjustment model which endogenizes optimum structure and assumes the existence of adjustment costs. The model is then estimated by applying a...