The Determinants Of Corporate Debt Maturity Structure

The Determinants of Corporate Debt Maturity Structure.

This study examines the determinants of corporate debt maturity structure decisions of French, German and UK firms using panel data. These countries are characterised by different financial systems and traditions that have implications on how firms decide their debt maturity structure. We apply several alternative estimation methods and show that in debt structure modelling endogeneity problem should be controlled for. We do so by using Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimation method. The GMM results suggest that firms in all three countries adjust their debt ratios to attain their target maturity structure. However, the speed at which firms adjust their maturity structure towards their target levels differs from one country to another. A direct association of debt maturity with leverage in all countries confirms the predictions of the liquidity risk argument. However, corporate tax rate, growth opportunities, liquidity, firm quality, earnings volatility, asset maturity and firm size have different degree and direction of effect on debt maturity across the sample countries. Apart from these firm-specific factors, we also find that the impact of market-related factors (term structure of interest rates, equity premium, share price performance, and interest rate volatility) on debt maturity is country dependent. Hence, the debt maturity structure of a firm is determined by both firm-specific factors and country-specific effects.

We examine the empirical determinants of debt maturity structure using a maturity structure measure that incorporates detailed information about all of a firm's liabilities. We find that larger, less risky firms, with longer-term asset maturities use longer-term debt. Additionally, debt maturity varies inversely with earnings surprises and a firm's effective tax rate, but there is only mixed support for an inverse relation with growth opportunities. We find strong support for the prediction of a non-monotonic relation between debt maturity and bond rating: firms with high or very low bond ratings use shorter-term debt.

The maturity structure of debt can have financial and real consequences. Short-term debt exposes borrowers to rollover risk (where the terms of financing are renegotiated to the detriment of the borrower) and is associated with financial crises. Moreover, debt maturity can have an impact on the ability of firms to undertake long-term productive investments and, as a result, affect economic activity. The aim of this paper is to examine the evolution and determinants of debt maturity and to characterize differences across countries.

We provide an empirical examination of the determinants of corporate debt maturity. Our evidence offers strong support for the contracting-cost hypothesis. Firms that have few growth options are large, or are regulated have more long-term debt in their capital structure. We find little evidence that firms use the maturity structure of their debt to signal information to the market. The evidence is consistent, however, with the hypothesis that firms with larger information asymmetries issue more short- term debt. We find no evidence that taxes affect debt maturity.