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Working Paper
Tapping into Financial Synergies : Alleviating Financial Constraints Through Acquisitions
The paper examines whether financially constrained firms are able to use acquisitions to ease their constraints. The results show that acquisitions do ease financing constraints for constrained acquirers. Relative to unconstrained acquires, financially constrained firms are more likely to use undervalued equity to fund acquisitions and to target unconstrained and more liquid firms. Using a propensity score matched sample in a difference-in-difference framework, the results show that constrained acquirers become less constrained post-acquisition and relative to matched non-acquiring firms. ...
Working Paper
The Effects of Institutional Investor Objectives on Firm Valuation and Governance
We find that ownership by different types of institutional investor has different implications for future firm misvaluation and governance characteristics. Dedicated institutional investors decrease future firm misvaluation relative to fundamentals, as well as the magnitude of this misvaluation. In contrast, transient institutional investors have the opposite effect. Using SEC Regulation FD as an exogenous shock to information dissemination, we find evidence consistent with dedicated institutions having an information advantage. The valuation effects are primarily driven by institutional ...
Working Paper
Options, Equity Risks, and the Value of Capital Structure Adjustments
We use exchange-traded options to identify risks relevant to capital structure adjustments in firms. These forward-looking market-based risk measures provide significant explanatory power in predicting net leverage changes in excess of accounting data. They matter most during contractionary periods and for growth firms. We form market-based indices that capture firms' magnitudes of, and propensity for, net leverage increases. Firms with larger predicted leverage increases outperform firms with lower predicted increases by 3.1% to 3.9% per year in buy-and-hold abnormal returns. Finally, ...
Discussion Paper
What Drove Recent Trends in Corporate Bonds and Loans Usage?
U.S. nonfinancial business debt increased substantially in recent years in both absolute and relative terms and is now near its record high. Figure 1 shows that most of this increase was due to significant growth in investment-grade (IG) corporate bonds and institutional leveraged loans, while high-yield (HY) corporate bonds and C&I loans largely remained steady.
Discussion Paper
Spike in 2019Q1 Leverage Ratios: The Impact of Operating Leases
In this note, we show that the key driver of the 2019:Q1 increase in the leverage ratio appears to be a change in accounting rules – which requires the inclusion of operating leases as financial liabilities on U.S. corporations' balance sheets – and also provide a methodology for adjusting the leverage ratio to allow for cleaner historical comparisons.