IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/11992.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Corporate Bond Guarantees and The Value of Financial Flexibility

Author

Listed:
  • Massa, Massimo
  • Manconi, Alberto
  • Altieri, Michela

Abstract

We examine the effects of the decision of parent companies to guarantee bonds issued by their subsidiaries. The market value of the parent firm’s outstanding bonds drops two times more when it issues a guarantee for subsidiary debt than when it issues a new bond in its own name. This effect is exacerbated when the parent is financially constrained, or when its bonds are less liquid. Subsidiary guaranteed debt has less stringent covenant protection, and a longer maturity, consistent with subsidiary guaranteed debt providing greater flexibility to the parent. Our estimates imply a value of financial flexibility, measured as the difference in the impact on bond yield spreads between parent and subsidiary guaranteed bonds, of about 30 bps.

Suggested Citation

  • Massa, Massimo & Manconi, Alberto & Altieri, Michela, 2017. "Corporate Bond Guarantees and The Value of Financial Flexibility," CEPR Discussion Papers 11992, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11992
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP11992
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    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. Acharya, Viral V. & Pedersen, Lasse Heje, 2005. "Asset pricing with liquidity risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2), pages 375-410, August.
    2. Imbierowicz, Björn & Wahrenburg, Mark, 2013. "Wealth transfer effects between stockholders and bondholders," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 23-43.
    3. Aigbe Akhigbe & John C. Easterwood & R. Richardson Pettit, 1997. "Wealth Effects of Corporate Debt Issues: The Impact of Issuer Motivations," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 26(1), Spring.
    4. Lewellen, Wilbur G, 1971. "A Pure Financial Rationale for the Conglomerate Merger," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 26(2), pages 521-537, May.
    5. John, Teresa A., 1993. "Optimality of Spin-Offs and Allocation of Debt," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 139-160, March.
    6. 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.
    7. Toni M. Whited & Guojun Wu, 2006. "Financial Constraints Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 531-559.
    8. Shah, Salman & Thakor, Anjan V., 1987. "Optimal capital structure and project financing," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 209-243, August.
    9. Daniel, Kent, et al, 1997. "Measuring Mutual Fund Performance with Characteristic-Based Benchmarks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1035-1058, July.
    10. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    11. Hendrik Bessembinder & Kathleen M. Kahle & William F. Maxwell & Danielle Xu, 2009. "Measuring Abnormal Bond Performance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(10), pages 4219-4258, October.
    12. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    13. Goyal, Vidhan K., 2005. "Market discipline of bank risk: Evidence from subordinated debt contracts," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 318-350, July.
    14. Lee, Lung-Fei, 1978. "Unionism and Wage Rates: A Simultaneous Equations Model with Qualitative and Limited Dependent Variables," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 19(2), pages 415-433, June.
    15. Sudheer Chava & Michael R. Roberts, 2008. "How Does Financing Impact Investment? The Role of Debt Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2085-2121, October.
    16. Sudheer Chava & Praveen Kumar & Arthur Warga, 2010. "Managerial Agency and Bond Covenants," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 1120-1148, March.
    17. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    18. Glosten, Lawrence R, 1987. "Components of the Bid-Ask Spread and the Statistical Properties of Transaction Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(5), pages 1293-1307, December.
    19. Shane A. Corwin & Paul Schultz, 2012. "A Simple Way to Estimate Bid‐Ask Spreads from Daily High and Low Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(2), pages 719-760, April.
    20. Kahan, Marcel & Yermack, David, 1998. "Investment Opportunities and the Design of Debt Securities," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 136-151, April.
    21. Kolasinski, Adam C., 2009. "Subsidiary debt, capital structure and internal capital markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 327-343, November.
    22. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    23. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & John, Kose, 1996. "Optimal Incorporation, Structure of Debt Contracts, and Limited-Recourse Project Financing," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 372-408, October.
    24. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    25. William F. Maxwell & Clifford P. Stephens, 2003. "The Wealth Effects of Repurchases on Bondholders," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 895-920, April.
    26. William F. Maxwell & Clifford P. Stephens, 2003. "The Wealth Effects of Repurchases on Bondholders," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 895-919, April.
    27. Hayne E. Leland, 2007. "Financial Synergies and the Optimal Scope of the Firm: Implications for Mergers, Spinoffs, and Structured Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 765-807, April.
    28. Matthew T. Billett & Tao-Hsien Dolly King & David C. Mauer, 2004. "Bondholder Wealth Effects in Mergers and Acquisitions: New Evidence from the 1980s and 1990s," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(1), pages 107-135, February.
    29. Nash, Robert C. & Netter, Jeffry M. & Poulsen, Annette B., 2003. "Determinants of contractual relations between shareholders and bondholders: investment opportunities and restrictive covenants," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 201-232, March.
    30. Pierre Collin-Dufresn & Robert S. Goldstein & J. Spencer Martin, 2001. "The Determinants of Credit Spread Changes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2177-2207, December.
    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. Xueying Zhang & Shansheng Gao & Jian Jiao, 2018. "Moral Hazard Effects of Corporate Bond Guarantee Purchases: Empirical Evidence from China," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(5), pages 100-115.

    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. Reisel, Natalia, 2014. "On the value of restrictive covenants: Empirical investigation of public bond issues," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 251-268.
    2. Szilagyi, P.G., 2007. "Corporate governance and the agency costs of debt and outside equity," Other publications TiSEM 9520d40a-224f-43a8-9bf9-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Luc Renneboog & Peter G. Szilagyi, 2008. "Corporate Restructuring and Bondholder Wealth," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 14(4), pages 792-819, September.
    4. 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.
    5. Murray, Benjamin & Svec, Jiri & Wright, Danika, 2017. "Wealth transfer, signaling and leverage in M&A," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 203-212.
    6. Imbierowicz, Björn & Wahrenburg, Mark, 2013. "Wealth transfer effects between stockholders and bondholders," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 23-43.
    7. Bazzana, Flavio & Zadorozhnaya, Anna & Gabriele, Roberto, 2018. "The role of covenants in bond issue. The case of Russian companies," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-18.
    8. Jory, Surendranath & Ngo, Thanh & Susnjara, Jurica, 2017. "The effect of shareholder activism on bondholders and stockholders," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 328-344.
    9. Jean Helwege & Jing-Zhi Huang & Yuan Wang, 2017. "Debt Covenants and Cross-Sectional Equity Returns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1835-1854, June.
    10. Sandrine Docgne, 2022. "Bond covenants and investment policy," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 551-578, September.
    11. Maul, D. & Schiereck, D., 2017. "The bond event study methodology since 1974," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 80723, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    12. Beatriz Mariano & Josep Tribó Giné, 2015. "Creditor Intervention, Investment, and Growth Opportunities," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 203-228, April.
    13. Zhang, Eden Quxian, 2022. "Why are distressed firms acquisitive?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    14. Marc Arnold & Dirk Hackbarth & Tatjana Xenia Puhan, 2018. "Financing Asset Sales and Business Cycles [Does industry-wide distress affect defaulted firms? Evidence from creditor recoveries]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 22(1), pages 243-277.
    15. João Pinto & Mário Coutinho dos Santos, 2014. "Corporate Financing Choices after the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis," Working Papers de Economia (Economics Working Papers) 03, Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
    16. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Cooper, Ilan & de Olalla Lopez, Ignacio Garcia & Louca, Christodoulos, 2018. "Managerial overconfidence and the buyback anomaly," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 142-156.
    17. Kolasinski, Adam C., 2009. "Subsidiary debt, capital structure and internal capital markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 327-343, November.
    18. Jeffrey Harrison & Matthew Hart & Derek Oler, 2014. "Leverage and acquisition performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 571-603, October.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bond returns; Bond guarantees; Subsidiary firms; Financial flexibility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

    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:cpr:ceprdp:11992. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    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.