Working Paper
Debt maturity and the back-to-the-wall theory of corporate finance
Sharpe, Steven A.; Fenn, George W. (1991)
Finance and Economics Discussion Series , Paper 171

Working Paper
Debt maturity and the use of interest rate derivatives by non-financial firms
Fenn, George W.; Post, Mitchell A.; Sharpe, Steven A. (1996)
We develop and test a simple model of a firm's optimal debt maturity and its demand for interest rate swaps using 1994 data of over 4000 nonfinancial corporations. As in other models of derivative use, ours predicts a systematic relationship between a firm's swap position and the interest-sensitivity of its cash flow. We test this by estimating the cross-sectional relationship between a firm's swap position and: (1) the amount of short-term and floating-rate debt in its capital structure; and (2) the interest-sensitivity of its EBITD. We find strong evidence that firms use swaps to hedge ...
Finance and Economics Discussion Series , Paper 96-36

Working Paper
Good news and bad news about share repurchases
Liang, J. Nellie; Fenn, George W. (1997)
We estimate the cross-sectional relationship between open market repurchases and accounting data for a large sample of dividend- paying and non-dividend paying firms over a twelve year period (1984-95). Consistent with the hypothesis that firms use open market repurchases to reduce the agency costs of free cash flow, we find that repurchases are positively related to proxies for free cash flow and negatively related to proxies for marginal financing costs. We also examine the extent to which management stock options influence the choice between open market repurchases and dividend payments. ...
Finance and Economics Discussion Series , Paper 1998-04

Working Paper
Prudential margin policy in a futures-style settlement system
Fenn, George W.; Kupiec, Paul H. (1991)
Finance and Economics Discussion Series , Paper 164

Conference Paper
Announcements of asset-quality problems and stock returns: the case of life insurance companies
Fenn, George W. (1992)
Proceedings , Paper 389

Discussion Paper
The economics of the private equity market.
Prowse, Stephen D.; Liang, J. Nellie; Fenn, George W. (1995)
The private equity market has become an important source of funds for start-up firms, private middle-market firms, firms in financial distress, and public firms seeking buyout financing. Between 1980 and 1994, the amount of private equity outstanding rose from less than $5 billion to $100 billion. Despite the market's extraordinary growth and its importance to many types of firms, it has received little attention in the financial press or the academic literature. ; This study examines the economic foundations of the private equity market and discusses in detail the market's organizational ...
Staff Studies , Paper 168

Working Paper
Corporate payout policy and managerial stock incentives
Liang, J. Nellie; Fenn, George W. (1999)
We examine how corporate payout policy is affected by managerial stock incentives using data on more than 1100 nonfinancial firms during 1993-97. We find that management share ownership encourages higher payouts by firms with potentially the greatest agency problems--those with low market-to-book ratios and low management stock ownership. We also find that management stock options change the composition of payouts. We find a strong negative relationship between dividends and management stock options, as predicted by Lambert, Lannen, and Larcker (1989), and a positive relationship between ...
Finance and Economics Discussion Series , Paper 1999-23