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Determinants of financial covenants and pricing of debt in private debt contracts: the UK evidence

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  • Lance Moir
  • Sudi Sudarsanam

Abstract

This paper presents details of financial covenants given by a sample drawn from the largest 200 non-financial quoted firms in the UK in private debt contracts and analyses these data to see whether there are relationships between the nature of the covenants given and firm characteristics. Data were obtained from 72 firms, of which 17 gave no financial covenants. Firm size was found to be the only significant factor influencing whether firms did or did not give covenants as well as the only factor which influenced the margin given on debt. Some types of covenants given were found to be different from those found in previous research. In particular, there is greater use of EBITDA as a base for both interest cover and gearing covenants. This shows the importance of cash flow based lending as opposed to asset based lending for general financing for large firms.

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  • Lance Moir & Sudi Sudarsanam, 2007. "Determinants of financial covenants and pricing of debt in private debt contracts: the UK evidence," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 151-166.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:acctbr:v:37:y:2007:i:2:p:151-166
    DOI: 10.1080/00014788.2007.9730066
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kim Nguyen, 2022. "The Real Effects of Debt Covenants: Evidence from Australia," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2022-05, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    2. Borgonovo, Emanuele & Gatti, Stefano, 2013. "Risk analysis with contractual default. Does covenant breach matter?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 230(2), pages 431-443.
    3. Chan, Ann L.-C. & Hsu, Audrey W.-H. & Lee, Edward, 2015. "Mandatory adoption of IFRS and timely loss recognition across Europe: The effect of corporate finance incentives," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 70-82.
    4. Takuma Kochiyama & Ryosuke Nakamura, 2021. "Debt covenants in Japanese loan markets: in comparison with the traditional relationship banking," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 305-334, March.
    5. Mattia Iotti & Giuseppe Bonazzi, 2016. "Assessment of Biogas Plant Firms by Application of Annual Accounts and Financial Data Analysis Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-19, September.
    6. KOCHIYAMA, Takuma & NAKAMURA, Ryosuke, 2014. "Role, Structure, and Determinants of Debt Covenants: Evidence from Japan," Working Paper Series 187, Center for Japanese Business Studies (HJBS), Graduate School of Commerce and Management Hitotsubashi University.
    7. Nicola Moscariello & Len Skerratt & Michele Pizzo, 2014. "Mandatory IFRS adoption and the cost of debt in Italy and UK," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 63-82, February.
    8. Hans B. Christensen & Edward Lee & Martin Walker, 2009. "Do IFRS Reconciliations Convey Information? The Effect of Debt Contracting," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1167-1199, December.
    9. Intan Suryani Abu Bakar & Arifur Khan & Paul Mather & George Tanewski, 2020. "Board monitoring and covenant restrictiveness in private debt contracts during the global financial crisis," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 661-692, April.

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