Corporate Financial Policies in Overvalued Debt Markets
58 Pages Posted: 13 Jan 2013 Last revised: 21 Aug 2015
Date Written: June 24, 2015
Abstract
We investigate the repercussions of credit market mistakes for a firm's borrowing and investment decisions. When credit ratings are relatively optimistic, we find evidence that firms take advantage of inaccuracies by issuing more debt, increasing leverage, rolling over more debt and lengthening maturities. The result goes beyond a wealth transfer and has real investment implications: approximately 75% of the funds raised from debt issuance related to credit rating mistakes was used for capital expenditures and cash acquisitions. In the cross section, credit rating mistakes affect financially constrained firms the most, suggesting that debt overvaluation loosens financial constraints.
Keywords: Debt Misvaluation, Capital Structure, Cash Holdings, Credit Ratings, Debt Issuance, Financial Constraints, Investment, Mergers and Acquisitions, Moody's, Moral Hazard
JEL Classification: G31, G32, G34
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Short Sale Constraints and Stock Returns
By Charles M. Jones and Owen A. Lamont
-
Short Sale Constraints and Stock Returns
By Charles M. Jones and Owen A. Lamont
-
Breadth of Ownership and Stock Returns
By Joseph Chen, Harrison G. Hong, ...
-
Breadth of Ownership and Stock Returns
By Joseph Chen, Harrison G. Hong, ...
-
Can the Market Add and Subtract? Mispricing in Tech Stock Carve-Outs
By Owen A. Lamont and Richard H. Thaler
-
Can the Market Add and Subtract? Mispricing in Tech Stock Carve-Outs
By Owen A. Lamont and Richard H. Thaler
-
Limited Arbitrage in Equity Markets
By Mark L. Mitchell, Todd C. Pulvino, ...
-
Dotcom Mania: The Rise and Fall of Internet Stock Prices
By Eli Ofek and Matthew P. Richardson
-
Dotcom Mania: The Rise and Fall of Internet Stock Prices
By Eli Ofek
-
Dotcom Mania: The Rise and Fall of Internet Stock Prices
By Eli Ofek and Matthew P. Richardson