• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.13 no.9
• /
• pp.47-57
• /
• 2015

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to investigate the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory (the cost of financing increases with asymmetric information) among Korean retail firms from the perspective of debt capacity. According to the Pecking-order theory, a firm's first preference is to use internal funds for its capital needs, its next preference is the issuance of debt, and its last preference is the issuance of equity; this is due to the information asymmetry problem between existing shareholders and investors. However, prior empirical studies, such as Lemmon and Zender (2010), argue that the entire sample test for the Pecking-order theory could be misleading due to the different levels of debt issuance capability of each of the individual firms; in fact, they confirm that the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory improves after taking into account the differences in debt capacity of the U.S. firms they examined. This paper implements a case study approach among Korean retail firms to examine the relationship between debt capacity and the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory in Korea. Research design, data, and methodology - This study uses the sample of public retail firms on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) from the time period of 1990 to 2013. We gather related financial and accounting statements from the financial information firm WISEfn. Credit rating information is provided by the Korea Investor Service. We employ the models of Lemmon and Zender (2010) and Son and Kim (2013) to measure a firm's debt capacity. Their logit models use the rating dummy variable as a dependent variable and incorporate other firm characteristics as independent variables to estimate debt capacity. To test the Pecking-order theory, we adopt variants of the financing deficit model of Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999). In the test of the Pecking-order theory, we consider all of the changes in total debt obligations, current debt obligations, and long-term debt obligations. Results - Our main contribution to the literature is our confirmation of the predicted relationship between debt capacity and the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory among Korean retail firms. The coefficients on financing deficits become greater as a firm's debt capacity improves. This is consistent with the results of Lemmon and Zender (2010). The coefficients on the square of the financing deficits are also negative for the firms in the largest debt capacity group, which is also consistent with the predictions in prior literature. Conclusions - This study takes a case study approach by examining Korean retail firms. We confirm that the Pecking-order theory explains the capital structure of retail firms more appropriately, after taking into account the debt capacity of each firm. This result suggests the importance of debt capacity consideration in the testing of the Pecking-order theory. Our result also implies that there has been a potential underestimation of the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory in existing studies.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.275-287
• /
• 2023

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between the issuance amount of subordinated bonds and firm value, aiming to determine how subordinated bonds are evaluated in the capital market. Design/methodology/approach - To achieve the research objective, this study empirically analyzes all samples of domestic listed insurers that have issued subordinated bonds. Through such empirical analysis, the study aims to confirm the value relevance of the recognized debt and examine how subordinated bonds are reflected in the firm valuation of insurers. Findings - The research finding indicates that subordinated bonds issued by insurers, despite being recognized as debt, did not show a significant relation with firm value. This result suggests a divergence from the typical characteristics of debt, reflecting the distinct evaluation of debt recognized through the issuance of subordinated bonds(subordinated debt) and general debt in the capital market. In this regard, additional investigation into the value relevance by categorizing debt into general debt and subordinated debt revealed a significant difference in the value relevance of the two types of debt. Research implications or Originality - These research findings indicate that the market evaluation of subordinated debt takes into consideration the economic attributes of the subordinated debt. Furthermore, this evaluation is interpreted to account for the regulatory consideration that recognizes subordinated debt as available capital for supervisory purpose.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.1-29
• /
• 2009

Since convertible debt has both characteristics of stocks and bonds, its issuance can be related to both interests of stockholders and bondholders. Nevertheless, the existing studies focused mainly on the wealth effect on stockholders. In this paper we revisit the hypotheses on the issue of convertible debt especially from the viewpoint of a firm's growth, by making an additional investigation into bondholders' wealth effects. We find that stockholders' wealth increases with bondholders' wealth in the firm whose book-to-market ratio is low and thus is considered a growth firm. This finding seems consistent with the hypothesis in which the issue of convertible debt mitigates the agency cost of debt in the high-growth firm.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.205-219
• /
• 2023

Purpose - This study examines the effect of corporate debt characteristics on the relationship between anti-takeover provision and the cost of debt. Design/methodology/approach - The study analyzes a sample of non-financial firms listed on the stock market with December fiscal year-end from 2011 to 2018. Debt default risk (debt size, liquidity ratio, interest coverage ratio, loss occurrence) and the issuance of bonds are utilized as measures of corporate debt characteristics. Findings - First, it is observed that creditors of firms with anti-takeover provision demand higher returns as the debt default risk of these firms increases. Second, for firms issuing bonds, it is found that bondholders in companies with anti-takeover provision also seek higher returns. Research implications or Originality - This study contributes by demonstrating that the effect of anti-takeover provision on creditors can vary depending on corporate debt characteristics. Particularly, the study highlights the importance of a firm's debt default risk and creditor distinction (bondholders vs. regular creditors) as significant factors that may influence perceptions of anti-takeover provision.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.21-51
• /
• 2024

Since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009, the importance of nonbank financial institutions in macroprudential management has increased significantly. Consequently, major countries and international financial institutions have been actively discussing and implementing macroprudential supervision and regulation for non-bank financial institutions (NBFI). In this context, this paper analyzes the systemic risk of both banks and non-bank sectors (securities firms and insurance companies) in South Korea over different time periods. Using the widely recognized ΔCoVaR methodology for measuring systemic risk, the analysis reveals that systemic risk increased substantially across all three sectors (banks, securities firms, and insurance companies) during the Global Financial Crisis, the European Sovereign Debt Crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the banking sector exhibited relatively high systemic risk compared to the securities and insurance sectors, the relative differences in systemic risk varied across the different crisis periods. Notably, during the margin call crisis in March of 2020, the gap in systemic risk between the banking and securities sectors decreased significantly compared to that during both the Global Financial Crisis and the European Sovereign Debt Crisis, indicating that securities firms had a more substantial impact on risk in the overall financial system during this period. Furthermore, I analyze the impact of the issuance of equity-linked securities (ELS) by financial institutions on systemic risk, as measured by ΔCoVaR, finding that an increase in the outstanding balance of ELS issuance by financial institutions had an impact on increasing ΔCoVaR during the three crisis periods. These findings underscore the growing importance of non-bank financial institutions in relation to South Korea's macroprudential management and supervision. To address this evolving landscape, enhanced monitoring and regulatory measures focusing on non-bank systemic risk are essential components of maintaining financial stability in the country.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.337-345
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between the characteristics of Korean family firms and the impact of debt financing. The analysis period was 10 years from 2004 to 2013, and the sample consisted of 4,008 non-financial firms listed on the Korea Exchange. For the analysis, the unbalanced panel data with time - series, cross - section data were formed and analyzed using panel data regression analysis. The results are as follows. First, Korean family firms use relatively less debt than non - family firms. It can be understood that family firms in which the dominant family owns and dominates the corporation are less likely to increase their debt because the agent problem is alleviated and the need for the control effect of Jensen (1986) is lowered. Second, in the verification of the packing order theory using the model proposed by Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999), family firms have higher compliance with the packing order theory than non-family firms do. When financing is needed, debt is preferred over equity issuance. However, for Korean family firms, 24.38% of the deficit funds are financed through the issuance of net debt, which is relatively low compared to the 75% shown in the analysis of Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999). These results reveal the limit to the strong claim that the Korean family firms follow the packing order theory.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.12 no.10
• /
• pp.75-84
• /
• 2014

Purpose - This article aims to examine whether the stock issuance of firms in the retail industry follows Myers' (1984) pecking order theory, which is based on information asymmetry. According to the pecking order model, firms have a sequence of financing decisions, of which the first choice is to use retained earnings, the second one is to get into safe debt, the next involves risky debt, and the last involves finance with outside equity. Since the 2000s, the polarization of the LEs (Large enterprises) and SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) arose in the retail industry. The LEs exhibited an improvement in growth and profitability, whereas SMEs had a tendency to degenerate. This study contributes to corroborating the features of financing decisions in the retail industry distinguished from the other industries. Research design, data, and methodology - This study considers the stocks listed on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets from 1991 to 2013, and is more concentrated on the stocks in the retail industry. The data were collected from the financial information company, WISEfn. The empirical analysis is conducted by employing two measures of net equity issues (and), which were introduced in Fama and French (2005), and can be calculated from firms' accounting information. All variables are generated as the aggregate value of the numerator divided by aggregate assets, which, in effect, treats the entire sample as a single firm. Substantially, the financing decisions of the firms were analyzed by examining how often and under what circumstances firms issue and repurchase equity. Then, this study compares the features of the retail industry with those of the other industries. Results - The proportion of sample firms that show annual net stock issues reaching the level of the year's average was 54.33% for the 1990s, and fell to 39.93% per year for the 2000s. In detail, the fraction of the small firms actually increases from 45.08% to 51.04%, whereas that of large firms shows a dramatic decline from 58.94% to 24.76%. Considering the fact that the large firms' rapid increase in growth after the 2000s may lead to an increase in equity issues, this result is rather surprising. Meanwhile, net stock repurchases of assets are considerably disproportionate between the large (-50.11%) and the small firms (-15.66%) for the 2000s. Conclusions - Stock issuance of retail firms is not in line with the traditional seasoned equity offering based on information asymmetry. The net stock issuance of the small firms in the retail industry can be interpreted as part of an effort to reorganize business and solicit new investment to resolve degenerating business performance. For large firms, on the other hand, the net repurchase can be regarded as part of an effort to rearrange business for efficiency and amplifying synergy across business sections through spin-off. These results can help the government establish a support policy on retail industry according to size.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.67-79
• /
• 2019

This study examines the impact of corporate governance on capital structure decisions based on a large panel of Chinese listed firms. Using the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to control for unobserved heterogeneity, endogeneity, and persistency in capital structure decisions, we document that the ownership structure plays a significant role in determining leverage ratios. More specially, we find that managerial ownership has a positive and significant impact on firms' leverage, consistent with the incentive alignment hypothesis. We also find that managerial ownership only affects the leverage decisions of private firms in the post-2005 split share reform period. State ownership negatively influence leverage decisions implying that SOEs may face fewer restrictions in equity issuance and may receive favourable treatments when applying for seasoned equity ¿nancing, thus use less debt. Furthermore, our results show that while foreign ownership negatively influences leverage decisions, legal person shareholding positively influences firms' leverage decisions only for state controlled firms. We also find that the board structure variables (board size and the proportion of independent directors) do not influence firms' capital structure decisions. Our findings suggest that recent ownership reforms have been successful in terms of providing incentive to managers through managerial shareholdings to take risky financial choices.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.217-223
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study is to examine the restructuring strategies that are selected according to the corporate life cycle and to provide evidence that restructuring strategies that are chosen when firms face financial difficulties can have a positive impact on corporate restructuring. This study is logistic regression analysis of 3,593 samples of companies listed on Korea Exchange from 2001 to 2016. The results of this study show that a company that is growing through the expansion of its size and investment can overcome the financial difficulties of the company. And this study finds evidence that the declining firms use the capital increase or debt issuance to revive the corporate regeneration. The results of this study suggest that it is important to consider the life cycle at the time of corporate restructuring and select the appropriate strategy accordingly.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.157-180
• /
• 2010

We try to check empirically whether the Korean banks produce valuable information for the firms listed in KOSDAQ. The sample covers 164 KOSDAQ firms which disclosed long-term bank loans for the period of October 2004 and March 2006. The result shows no abnormal stock returns from bank loan disclosures while the bond issuance indicates a negative abnormal return. In addition, when we control the effect of different debt levels of sample firms, we could not find any statistically significant effect of all types of borrowings. Results suggest that bank borrowings do not convey any favorable information on stock return and, as a result, bank loan is just one of several financing tools rather than a special event conveying good news for the firm under asymmetric information situation.