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The role of environmental, social, and governance rating on corporate debt structure

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  • Asimakopoulos, Panagiotis
  • Asimakopoulos, Stylianos
  • Li, Xinyu

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) rating on a firm’s debt structure. We find that optimal (market and book) leverage ratios and information asymmetry are reduced when firms become ESG rated. More importantly, ESG rated firms redistribute their financing sources from public debt (bonds issuing) to private debt (bank loans). These results are attributed to the incentive of ESG rated firms to avoid debt-overhang and underinvestment issues and to the fact that the ESG rating conveys valuable information to lenders leading to better access towards more internal sources of financing, such as bank loans over debt issuing. We further find that the substitution effect is more pronounced for firms with high financial pressure, low growth opportunities and specialized assets. Finally, these results remain valid under various robustness and endogeneity tests.

Suggested Citation

  • Asimakopoulos, Panagiotis & Asimakopoulos, Stylianos & Li, Xinyu, 2023. "The role of environmental, social, and governance rating on corporate debt structure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:83:y:2023:i:c:s0929119923001372
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102488
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ESG rating; Debt structure; Public and private debt; Leverage ratios; Information asymmetry;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

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