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The Bank as Grim Reaper : Debt Composition and Bankruptcy Thresholds

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Abstract

We offer a model and evidence that private debtholders play a key role in setting the endogenous asset value threshold below which corporations declare bankruptcy. The model, in the spirit of Black and Cox (1976), implies that the recovery rate at emergence from bankruptcy on all of the firm's debt taken together is increasing in the pre-bankruptcy share of private debt in all debt. Empirical evidence supports this and other implications of the model. Indeed, debt composition has a more economically material empirical influence on recovery than all other variables we try taken together.

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  • Mark S. Carey & Michael B. Gordy, 2016. "The Bank as Grim Reaper : Debt Composition and Bankruptcy Thresholds," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2016-069, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2016-69
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2016.069
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    Cited by:

    1. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Horvath, Balint L. & Huizinga, Harry, 2023. "Loan Recoveries and the Financing of Zombie Firms over the Business Cycle," Other publications TiSEM f86d5fb2-4829-426b-b026-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Sharjil M. Haque & Anya V. Kleymenova, 2023. "Private Equity and Debt Contract Enforcement: Evidence from Covenant Violations," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2023-018, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    3. Michael Schwert, 2020. "Does Borrowing from Banks Cost More than Borrowing from the Market?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(2), pages 905-947, April.
    4. Song Ma & Joy Tianjiao Tong & Wei Wang, 2022. "Bankrupt Innovative Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(9), pages 6971-6992, September.
    5. Berlin, Mitchell & Nini, Greg & Yu, Edison G., 2020. "Concentration of control rights in leveraged loan syndicates," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 249-271.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bankruptcy; Credit risk; Debt default; recovery rates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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