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The role of credit ratings on capital structure and its speed of adjustment: an international study

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  • Michal Wojewodzki
  • Winnie P.H. Poon
  • Jianfu Shen

Abstract

Using an international dataset, we examine the role of issuers’ credit ratings in explaining corporate leverage and the speed with which firms adjust toward their optimal level of leverage. We find that, in countries with a more market-oriented financial system, the impact of credit ratings on firms’ capital structure is more significant and that firms with a poorer credit rating adjust more rapidly. Furthermore, our results show some striking differences in the speed of adjusting capital structure between firms rated as speculative and investment grade, with the former adjusting much more rapidly. As hypothesized, those differences are statistically significant only for firms based in a more market-oriented economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Michal Wojewodzki & Winnie P.H. Poon & Jianfu Shen, 2018. "The role of credit ratings on capital structure and its speed of adjustment: an international study," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(9), pages 735-760, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurjfi:v:24:y:2018:i:9:p:735-760
    DOI: 10.1080/1351847X.2017.1354900
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    Cited by:

    1. Jianfu Shen & Kwong Wing Chau, 2022. "The Effect of Access to the Public Debt Market on Corporate Financing Decisions: The Case of REITs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-19, June.
    2. Wojewodzki, Michal & Boateng, Agyenim & Brahma, Sanjukta, 2020. "Credit rating, banks' capital structure and speed of adjustment: A cross-country analysis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Jingjing Long & Cuiqing Jiang & Stanko Dimitrov & Zhao Wang, 2022. "Clues from networks: quantifying relational risk for credit risk evaluation of SMEs," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-41, December.
    4. Biswajit Ghose & Kailash Chandra Kabra, 2020. "Does Growth Affect Firms’ Leverage Adjustment Speed? A Study of Indian Firms," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 8(2), pages 139-155, July.
    5. Pertaia, Giorgi & Prokhorov, Artem & Uryasev, Stan, 2022. "A new approach to credit ratings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    6. Faiza Sajjad & Muhammad Zakaria, 2018. "Credit Ratings and Liquidity Risk for the Optimization of Debt Maturity Structure," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, May.
    7. Bruce Burton & Satish Kumar & Nitesh Pandey, 2020. "Twenty-five years of The European Journal of Finance (EJF): a retrospective analysis," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(18), pages 1817-1841, December.
    8. Faiza Sajjad & Muhammad Zakaria, 2018. "Credit Rating as a Mechanism for Capital Structure Optimization: Empirical Evidence from Panel Data Analysis," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-14, January.

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