IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v44y2022ics1544612321001471.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Great Trees are Good for Shade: Creditor Monitoring Under Common Ownership

Author

Listed:
  • Lin, Luca Xianran

Abstract

Existing studies show that common ownership across multiple industry firms improves corporate governance, because such common owners internalize governance externalities and possess industry-wide expertise. I study whether creditors perceive common owners as allied monitors or powerful expropriators. Using financial institution mergers to establish causality, I find that creditors impose less restrictive covenants on loans to firms with higher common ownership. It is mainly pronounced in financially risky firms with no blockholder or lower creditor bargaining power. This indicates that creditors account for the benefits from common ownership governance, and therefore exert less monitoring effort in firms with higher common ownership.

Suggested Citation

  • Lin, Luca Xianran, 2022. "Great Trees are Good for Shade: Creditor Monitoring Under Common Ownership," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:44:y:2022:i:c:s1544612321001471
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2021.102066
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612321001471
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2021.102066?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. José Azar & Martin C. Schmalz & Isabel Tecu, 2018. "Anticompetitive Effects of Common Ownership," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(4), pages 1513-1565, August.
    2. Massa, Massimo & Žaldokas, Alminas, 2017. "Information transfers among co-owned firms," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 77-92.
    3. Harford, Jarrad & Jenter, Dirk & Li, Kai, 2011. "Institutional cross-holdings and their effect on acquisition decisions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 27-39, January.
    4. Demerjian, Peter R. & Owens, Edward L., 2016. "Measuring the probability of financial covenant violation in private debt contracts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 433-447.
    5. Bengt Holmstrom & Jean Tirole, 1997. "Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds, and The Real Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 663-691.
    6. Miguel Antón & Florian Ederer & Mireia Giné & Martin Schmalz, 2023. "Common Ownership, Competition, and Top Management Incentives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(5), pages 1294-1355.
    7. He, Jie (Jack) & Huang, Jiekun & Zhao, Shan, 2019. "Internalizing governance externalities: The role of institutional cross-ownership," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(2), pages 400-418.
    8. Daniel Ferreira & Miguel A. Ferreira & Beatriz Mariano, 2018. "Creditor Control Rights and Board Independence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(5), pages 2385-2423, October.
    9. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    10. Alex Edmans, 2009. "Blockholder Trading, Market Efficiency, and Managerial Myopia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(6), pages 2481-2513, December.
    11. Hansen, Robert G. & Lott, John R., 1996. "Externalities and Corporate Objectives in a World with Diversified Shareholder/Consumers," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(1), pages 43-68, March.
    12. Hans B. Christensen & Valeri V. Nikolaev, 2012. "Capital Versus Performance Covenants in Debt Contracts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 75-116, March.
    13. Ferreira, Daniel & Ferreira, Miguel A. & Mariano, Beatriz, 2018. "Creditor control rights and board independence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 84463, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Gustafson, Matthew T. & Ivanov, Ivan T. & Meisenzahl, Ralf R., 2021. "Bank monitoring: Evidence from syndicated loans," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(2), pages 452-477.
    15. Denis, David J. & Wang, Jing, 2014. "Debt covenant renegotiations and creditor control rights," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(3), pages 348-367.
    16. Kang, Jun-Koo & Luo, Juan & Na, Hyun Seung, 2018. "Are institutional investors with multiple blockholdings effective monitors?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(3), pages 576-602.
    17. Nicolae Garleanu & Jeffrey Zwiebel, 2009. "Design and Renegotiation of Debt Covenants," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 749-781, February.
    18. Jie (Jack) He & Jiekun Huang, 2017. "Product Market Competition in a World of Cross-Ownership: Evidence from Institutional Blockholdings," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(8), pages 2674-2718.
    19. Wei Jiang & Kai Li & Pei Shao, 2010. "When Shareholders Are Creditors: Effects of the Simultaneous Holding of Equity and Debt by Non-commercial Banking Institutions," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(10), pages 3595-3637, October.
    20. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    21. Nini, Greg & Smith, David C. & Sufi, Amir, 2009. "Creditor control rights and firm investment policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 400-420, June.
    22. Lewellen, Katharina & Lowry, Michelle, 2021. "Does common ownership really increase firm coordination?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 322-344.
    23. Cem Demiroglu & Christopher M. James, 2010. "The Information Content of Bank Loan Covenants," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(10), pages 3700-3737, October.
    24. Philippe Aghion & Patrick Bolton, 1992. "An Incomplete Contracts Approach to Financial Contracting," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(3), pages 473-494.
    25. Bolton, Patrick & Scharfstein, David S, 1996. "Optimal Debt Structure and the Number of Creditors," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 1-25, February.
    26. Park, Jihwon & Sani, Jalal & Shroff, Nemit & White, Hal, 2019. "Disclosure incentives when competing firms have common ownership," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 387-415.
    27. Greg Nini & David C. Smith & Amir Sufi, 2012. "Creditor Control Rights, Corporate Governance, and Firm Value," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(6), pages 1713-1761.
    28. Rajan, Raghuram & Winton, Andrew, 1995. "Covenants and Collateral as Incentives to Monitor," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1113-1146, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lin, Luca X., 2022. "Taking no chances: Lender concentration and corporate acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lin, Luca X., 2022. "Taking no chances: Lender concentration and corporate acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. Zhiming Ma & Derrald Stice & Christopher Williams, 2022. "What's my style? Supply‐side determinants of debt covenant inclusion," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3-4), pages 461-490, March.
    3. Freudenberg, Felix & Imbierowicz, Björn & Saunders, Anthony & Steffen, Sascha, 2017. "Covenant violations and dynamic loan contracting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 540-565.
    4. Nishant Dass & Vikram Nanda & Qinghai Wang, 2020. "Within‐syndicate conflicts, loan covenants, and syndicate formation," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 49(2), pages 547-583, June.
    5. Wang, Jing, 2017. "Debt covenant design and creditor control rights: Evidence from the tightest covenant," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 331-352.
    6. Saiying Deng & Yutao Li, 2023. "Creditor control rights and borrower protection: the role of borrower consent clause in private debt contracts," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 357-394, July.
    7. Ambrocio, Gene & Colak, Gonul & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2022. "Commitment or constraint? The effect of loan covenants on merger and acquisition activity," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    8. Chen, Shenglan & Ma, Hui & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2023. "Does common ownership constrain managerial rent extraction? Evidence from insider trading profitability," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    9. Brian Akins & David De Angelis & Maclean Gaulin, 2020. "Debt Contracting on Management," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 2095-2137, August.
    10. Healey, John & Mintz, Ofer, 2021. "What if your owners also own other firms in your industry? The relationship between institutional common ownership, marketing, and firm performance," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 838-856.
    11. Hou, Canran & Liu, Huan, 2023. "Institutional cross-ownership and stock price crash risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    12. Prilmeier, Robert, 2017. "Why do loans contain covenants? Evidence from lending relationships," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 558-579.
    13. Nikolaev, Valeri V., 2018. "Scope for renegotiation in private debt contracts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 270-301.
    14. Amiraslani, Hami & Donovan, John & Phillips, Matthew A. & Wittenberg-Moerman, Regina, 2023. "Contracting in the Dark: The rise of public-side lenders in the syndicated loan market," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1).
    15. Liu, Huan & Hou, Canran, 2023. "The external effect of institutional cross-ownership on excessive managerial perks," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 483-501.
    16. Yun Lou & Clemens A. Otto, 2020. "Debt Heterogeneity and Covenants," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(1), pages 70-92, January.
    17. Xu, Tianli & Xu, Longbing & Zhu, Siyuan, 2023. "Common ownership and executive pay-for-performance sensitivity: Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    18. Daniel Cohen & Bin Li & Ningzhong Li & Yun Lou, 2022. "Major government customers and loan contract terms," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 275-312, March.
    19. Christensen, Hans B. & Macciocchi, Daniele & Morris, Arthur & Nikolaev, Valeri V., 2022. "Financial shocks to lenders and the composition of financial covenants," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1).
    20. Beyhaghi, Mehdi & Nguyen, Ca & Wald, John K., 2019. "Institutional investors and loan dynamics: Evidence from loan renegotiations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 482-505.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Creditor Monitoring; Common Ownership; Corporate Governance; Loan Covenants;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:44:y:2022:i:c:s1544612321001471. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.