Firm Characteristics and Dynamic Capital Structure Adjustment

35 Pages Posted: 19 Dec 2006

See all articles by Wolfgang Drobetz

Wolfgang Drobetz

University of Hamburg

Pascal Pensa

University of Basel - Department of Finance

Gabrielle Wanzenried

Institut für Finanzdienstleistungen Zug (IFZ)

Date Written: December 2006

Abstract

We use a dynamic framework and panel methodology to investigate the determinants of a time-varying corporate capital structure. Our sample comprises 706 European firms from France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. over the period from 1983 to 2002. If capital structure adjustment is costly, firms may deviate temporarily from their target debt ratios. Therefore, we investigate the adjustment process and analyze the impact of well-known firm characteristic variables on the speed of adjustment towards a endogenously specified target debt ratio. We find that larger and faster growing firms adjust their capital structure more readily. Furthermore, large deviations from target debt ratios lead to faster readjustment. Additionally, we shed new light on capital structure rebalancing arguments. We document that large swings in market values of leverage lead to readjustment in the corresponding book values of leverage in the following periods. Finally, we find that capital structure adjustments are largely determined by financial constraints, i.e., firms in unfavourable financial conditions show only little or no adjustment behavior at all.

Keywords: Capital structure, dynamic analysis, panel data

JEL Classification: G32, C61, C23

Suggested Citation

Drobetz, Wolfgang and Pensa, Pascal and Wanzenried, Gabrielle, Firm Characteristics and Dynamic Capital Structure Adjustment (December 2006). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=952268 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.952268

Wolfgang Drobetz

University of Hamburg ( email )

Moorweidenstrasse 18
Hamburg, 20148
Germany

Pascal Pensa (Contact Author)

University of Basel - Department of Finance ( email )

Holbeinstrasse 12
Basel, CH-4051
Switzerland
+41612673318 (Phone)
+41612670898 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.wwz.unibas.ch/finance/team/pensa/

Gabrielle Wanzenried

Institut für Finanzdienstleistungen Zug (IFZ) ( email )

Zug, CH-6304
Switzerland

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