IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jfinqa/v28y1993i01p139-160_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimality of Spin-Offs and Allocation of Debt

Author

Listed:
  • John, Teresa A.

Abstract

Recent empirical studies have indicated that spin-offs are value enhancing, yet the theoretical aspects of spin-off gains have not been as well explored. This paper presents a theoretical analysis of spin-offs. In the model of the firm presented, outstanding risky debt gives rise to agency costs of underinvestment, which are offset by the benefit of debt-related tax shields. The trade-off specifies the optimal leverage for a firm. Within this framework, the paper considers whether and under what circumstances firm value could be enhanced by a spin-off. It is shown that a spin-off in which parent company debt is optimally allocated between the post-spin-off firms increases value by reducing agency costs and increasing the value of tax shields when the component firm cash flows are positively correlated. The optimal allocation is characterized in terms of the parameters of the technologies of the component firms. When the component cash flows are negatively correlated, under the sufficient conditions developed, a combined firm operation dominates spin-offs. Here, the coinsurance effect on investment incentives dominates the effect of a flexible allocation of debt across technologies in a spin-off.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jfinqa:v:28:y:1993:i:01:p:139-160_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022109000008401/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Habib, Michel A. & Johnsen, D. Bruce & Naik, Narayan Y., 1997. "Spinoffs and Information," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 153-176, April.
    2. Kolasinski, Adam C., 2009. "Subsidiary debt, capital structure and internal capital markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 327-343, November.
    3. Sentis, Patrick, 2001. "Sous-investissement et suppression d’effectifs : vers une réduction des coûts d’agence," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 77(1), pages 5-26, mars.
    4. Mazur, Mieszko & Salganik-Shoshan, Galla, 2019. "The effect of executive stock option delta and vega on the spin-off decision," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 132-144.
    5. Shane A. Johnson & Daniel P. Klein & Verne L. Thibodeaux, 1996. "The Effects Of Spin-Offs On Corporate Investment And Performance," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 19(2), pages 293-307, June.
    6. 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.
    7. Segura, Anatoli & Zeng, Jing, 2020. "Off-balance sheet funding, voluntary support and investment efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 90-107.
    8. Kobayashi, Mami & Osano, Hiroshi, 2012. "Nonrecourse financing and securitization," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 659-693.
    9. Dirk Hackbarth & Richmond Mathews & David Robinson, 2014. "Capital Structure, Product Market Dynamics, and the Boundaries of the Firm," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(12), pages 2971-2993, December.
    10. Chris Veld & Yulia V. Veld‐Merkoulova, 2008. "An Empirical Analysis of the Stockholder‐Bondholder Conflict in Corporate Spin‐Offs," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 37(1), pages 103-124, March.
    11. Dmitri Boreiko & Maurizio Murgia, 2013. "European spin-offs Origin, value creation, and long-term performance," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS05, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.
    12. McNeil, Chris R. & Moore, William T., 2005. "Dismantling internal capital markets via spinoff: effects on capital allocation efficiency and firm valuation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 253-275, March.
    13. Christian Toll, 2018. "Zur Bewertung einer Unternehmensspaltung aus Sicht der Anteilseigner des zu spaltenden Unternehmens [Valuation of a Corporate Demerger from the Shareholders’ Point of View]," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 155-204, March.
    14. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Yan, An, 2004. "A theory of corporate spin-offs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 259-290, May.
    15. Lóránth, Gyöngyi & Morrison, Alan & Zeng, Jing, 2020. "Organizational Structure and Investment Strategy," CEPR Discussion Papers 15602, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Debarshi Nandy & Thomas Chemmanur, 2005. "How is Value Created in Spin-Offs? A Look Inside the Black Box," Working Papers 05-09, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Haynes, Michelle & Thompson, Steve & Wright, Mike, 2003. "The determinants of corporate divestment: evidence from a panel of UK firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 147-166, September.
    18. 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.
    19. Nazir Saima & Chisti Khalid, 2023. "Corporate Spin-Offs and Shareholders’ Wealth: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda," Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 42-63, October.
    20. Pereira da Silva, Paulo & Vieira, Isabel & Vieira, Carlos, 2015. "M&A operations: Further evidence of informed trading in the CDS market," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 32, pages 116-130.
    21. 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.

    More about this item

    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:cup:jfinqa:v:28:y:1993:i:01:p:139-160_00. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/jfq .

    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.