IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v82y2023ics0929119923000780.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pricing of project finance bonds: A comparative analysis of primary market spreads

Author

Listed:
  • Guedes, Sebastião S.
  • Pinto, João M.

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative analysis of project finance (PF) and traditional corporate finance (CF) bond spreads and pricing. Using a cross-section of 47,196 bonds issued worldwide in the 1993–2020 period, we show that PF and CF bonds are differently priced, PF bonds have higher spreads than comparable CF bonds, and although ratings are the most important pricing determinant for PF and CF bonds at issuance, investors rely on other contractual, macroeconomic, and firms' characteristics beyond these ratings. Our results do not support the hypothesis of PF transactions as mechanisms of reducing sponsoring firms' funding costs: the cost of borrowing affects financing choices and PF transactions' weighted average spread is higher than that of comparable CF bond deals. We also find that economies of scale, risk management, and information asymmetry arguments affect sponsoring firms' choice between PF and CF transactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Guedes, Sebastião S. & Pinto, João M., 2023. "Pricing of project finance bonds: A comparative analysis of primary market spreads," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:82:y:2023:i:c:s0929119923000780
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102429
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119923000780
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102429?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. Wojtowicz, Marcin, 2014. "CDOs and the financial crisis: Credit ratings and fair premia," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-13.
    2. Subramanian, Krishnamurthy V. & Tung, Frederick, 2016. "Law and Project Finance," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 154-177.
    3. Ingo Fender & Janet Mitchell, 2005. "Structured finance: complexity, risk and the use of ratings," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, June.
    4. John M. Griffin & Jordan Nickerson & Dragon Yongjun Tang, 2013. "Rating Shopping or Catering? An Examination of the Response to Competitive Pressure for CDO Credit Ratings," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(9), pages 2270-2310.
    5. Kenneth Ayotte & Stav Gaon, 2011. "Asset-Backed Securities: Costs and Benefits of "Bankruptcy Remoteness"," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(4), pages 1299-1335.
    6. Riddiough, Timothy J., 1997. "Optimal Design and Governance of Asset-Backed Securities," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 121-152, April.
    7. Hull, John & Predescu, Mirela & White, Alan, 2004. "The relationship between credit default swap spreads, bond yields, and credit rating announcements," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 2789-2811, November.
    8. Michael Lokshin & Zurab Sajaia, 2004. "Maximum likelihood estimation of endogenous switching regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 4(3), pages 282-289, September.
    9. Peter M. DeMarzo, 2005. "The Pooling and Tranching of Securities: A Model of Informed Intermediation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 1-35.
    10. Hainz, Christa & Kleimeier, Stefanie, 2012. "Political risk, project finance, and the participation of development banks in syndicated lending," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 287-314.
    11. Kara, Alper & Marques-Ibanez, David & Ongena, Steven, 2016. "Securitization and lending standards: Evidence from the European wholesale loan market," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 107-127.
    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. Wang, Yan & Tian, Xu, 2023. "Underwriter strength and credit spread of corporate bond issuance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).

    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. Marques, Manuel O. & Pinto, João M., 2020. "A comparative analysis of ex ante credit spreads: Structured finance versus straight debt finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. 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.
    3. Rossen Valkanov & Andra Ghent, 2014. "Complexity in Structured Finance: Financial Wizardry or Smoke and Mirrors," 2014 Meeting Papers 104, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. João M. Pinto & Mário C. Santos, 2018. "The Choice Between Corporate And Structured Financing: Evidence From New Corporate Borrowings," Working Papers de Gestão (Management Working Papers) 01, Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
    5. Gunter Franke & Jan Pieter Krahnen, 2007. "Default Risk Sharing between Banks and Markets: The Contribution of Collateralized Debt Obligations," NBER Chapters, in: The Risks of Financial Institutions, pages 603-631, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Franke, Günter & Herrmann, Markus & Weber, Thomas, 2007. "Information asymmetries and securitization design," CoFE Discussion Papers 07/10, University of Konstanz, Center of Finance and Econometrics (CoFE).
    7. Vink, Dennis, 2007. "ABS, MBS and CDO compared: an empirical analysis," MPRA Paper 10381, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 09 Sep 2008.
    8. Müllner, Jakob & Puck, Jonas, 2018. "Towards a holistic framework of MNE–state bargaining: A formal model and case-based analysis," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 15-26.
    9. Broer, Tobias, 2018. "Securitization bubbles: Structured finance with disagreement about default risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(3), pages 505-518.
    10. Vink, Dennis, 2007. "An Empirical Analysis of Asset-Backed Securitization," MPRA Paper 10382, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 25 Aug 2008.
    11. Kobayashi, Mami & Osano, Hiroshi, 2012. "Nonrecourse financing and securitization," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 659-693.
    12. Gorton, Gary & Metrick, Andrew, 2013. "Securitization," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1-70, Elsevier.
    13. Müllner, Jakob, 2016. "From uncertainty to risk—A risk management framework for market entry," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 800-814.
    14. Liu, Laura Xiaolei & Mao, Mike Qinghao & Nini, Greg, 2018. "Customer risk and corporate financial policy: Evidence from receivables securitization," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 453-467.
    15. Xia, Han, 2014. "Can investor-paid credit rating agencies improve the information quality of issuer-paid rating agencies?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 450-468.
    16. Günter Franke & Thomas Weber, 2007. "Wie werden Collateralized Debt Obligation-Transaktionen gestaltet?," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 59(57), pages 95-123, January.
    17. Abdul Halim, Zairihan & How, Janice & Verhoeven, Peter & Hassan, M. Kabir, 2020. "Asymmetric information and securitization design in Islamic capital markets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    18. Hartman-Glaser, Barney & Piskorski, Tomasz & Tchistyi, Alexei, 2012. "Optimal securitization with moral hazard," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 186-202.
    19. Alper Kara & David Marques-Ibanez & Steven Ongena, 2015. "Securitization and Credit Quality," Working Papers 15013, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    20. Schaber, Albert, 2008. "Combination notes: market segmentation and equity transfer," Discussion Papers in Business Administration 7956, University of Munich, Munich School of Management.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bond pricing; Project finance; Corporate bonds; Cost of borrowing; Debt choice;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • 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

    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:corfin:v:82:y:2023:i:c:s0929119923000780. 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/jcorpfin .

    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.