The Borrower Characteristics In Hot Equity Markets

In this study, I examine the characteristics of U.S. corporate borrowers (public debt, private placement, and syndicated loan firms) in HOT versus COLD equity markets. My main objective is to see the characteristics of firms that choose debt financing even when the equity market is HOT. HOT equity markets are defined as the top twenty percent of the months in terms of the de-trended number of equity offerings. I find that the HOT equity market borrowers generally have higher market-to-book ratios compared to the COLD market borrowers. Also, in HOT equity markets, the public debt firms (i.e. the corporate bond issuers) tend to have fewer tangible assets, the private placement firms tend to be smaller and highly levered, and the syndicated loan firms tend to be smaller, more profitable, and less levered compared to the COLD market firms. When I look at the number of transactions in each market, I find that when the equity market is active (i.e. HOT), the syndicated loan market is even more active. During these periods, the public debt market is also active (although not as much as the equity or the syndicated loan markets). When I look at the sizes of the transactions in each market, I find that the private placements tend to be significantly larger in HOT markets compared to COLD markets. I conclude that while the equity, the public debt, and the syndicated loan markets move together in terms of market activity, the equity market and the private placement markets move together in terms of the size of the transaction.