Using the sample of US industrial firms over the period of 2000-2017, we find that firms tend to issue more debt after the global financial crisis to take advantage of lower borrowing rates and specifically, BBB-rated firms increase debt issuance more than other firms. We also document that the BBB-rated firms build up cash and increase payout ratios using the proceeds from the issuance in the post-crisis period. However, they tend not to increase R&D expenses or capital expenditures following the debt issuance. We further find that the market value of cash for BBB-rated firms is decreasing in the post-crisis period as they increase cash holdings, while that for other investmentgrade firms does not change. These results are consistent with the view of agency costs.
목차
Abstract I. Introduction II. Data III. Empirical findings IV. Conclusion and further research References
키워드
Credit rating; Debt issuance; Agency costs; Market value of cash
저자
Kyojik “Roy” Song [ Business School, Sungkyunkwan University ]