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High-Yield Debt Covenants and Their Real Effects

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  • Falk Bräuning
  • Victoria Ivashina
  • Ali Ozdagli

Abstract

High-yield debt including leveraged loans is characterized by incurrence financial covenants, or “cov-lite” provisions. A traditional loan agreement includes maintenance covenants, which require continuous compliance with the covenant threshold, and their violation shifts the control rights to creditors. Incurrence covenants preserve equity control rights but trigger pre-specified restrictions on the borrower’s actions once the covenant threshold is crossed. We show that the prevalence of incurrence covenants indirectly imposes significant constraints on investments as restricted actions become binding: Similar to the effects associated with the shift of control rights to creditors in traditional loans, the drop in investment under incurrence covenants is large and sudden. The deleveraging and drop in investment and market value associated with such latent violations point to a shock amplification mechanism through contractual restrictions that are at play for a highly levered corporate sector prior to firms filing for bankruptcy and independently of whether they ever do so.

Suggested Citation

  • Falk Bräuning & Victoria Ivashina & Ali Ozdagli, 2022. "High-Yield Debt Covenants and Their Real Effects," NBER Working Papers 29888, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29888
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    Cited by:

    1. Sharjil M. Haque, 2023. "Does Private Equity Over-Lever Portfolio Companies?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2023-009, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Falk Bräuning & Gustavo Joaquim & Hillary Stein, 2023. "Interest Expenses, Coverage Ratio, and Firm Distress," Current Policy Perspectives 96664, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation

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