IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v26y2013icp1-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Choice of corporate debt in China: The role of state ownership

Author

Listed:
  • Pessarossi, Pierre
  • Weill, Laurent

Abstract

We analyze the factors affecting the decisions of Chinese firms to take on debt in the form of either bonds or syndicated loans over the period of 2006–2010. The study reveals the extent to which corporate debt choices are politically or economically driven. We test if central government ownership, flotation costs, asymmetries of information, and renegotiation and liquidation costs influence the choice of debt. We find evidence in favor of the influence of central government ownership on the financing choices of firms because Central State owned firms are more likely to issue bonds and to borrow uniquely on the bond market, rather than tapping both debt markets. Overall, our findings show that financial factors play a much more minor role in corporate debt choices compared to other countries, whereas central government ownership is a key determinant of preference for the bond market.

Suggested Citation

  • Pessarossi, Pierre & Weill, Laurent, 2013. "Choice of corporate debt in China: The role of state ownership," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:26:y:2013:i:c:p:1-16
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2013.03.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X13000242
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2013.03.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cantillo, Miguel & Wright, Julian, 2000. "How Do Firms Choose Their Lenders? An Empirical Investigation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(1), pages 155-189.
    2. Robert N McCauley & San-Sau Fung & Blaise Gadanecz, 2002. "Integrating the finances of East Asia," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, December.
    3. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    4. Violaine Cousin, 2011. "Banking in China," Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions, Palgrave Macmillan, edition 0, number 978-0-230-30696-7, February.
    5. William T. Allen & Han Shen, 2011. "Assessing China's Top-Down Securities Markets," NBER Working Papers 16713, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Chemmanur, Thomas J & Fulghieri, Paolo, 1994. "Reputation, Renegotiation, and the Choice between Bank Loans and Publicly Traded Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(3), pages 475-506.
    7. Edward C. Norton & Hua Wang & Chunrong Ai, 2004. "Computing interaction effects and standard errors in logit and probit models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(2), pages 154-167, June.
    8. Andrew H. Chen & Sumon C. Mazumdar & Rahul Surana, 2011. "China's Corporate Bond Market Development," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(5), pages 6-33, September.
    9. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    10. Li, Kai & Yue, Heng & Zhao, Longkai, 2009. "Ownership, institutions, and capital structure: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 471-490, September.
    11. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2002. "Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2533-2570, December.
    12. Rajan, Raghuram G, 1992. "Insiders and Outsiders: The Choice between Informed and Arm's-Length Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1367-1400, September.
    13. Diamond, Douglas W, 1991. "Monitoring and Reputation: The Choice between Bank Loans and Directly Placed Debt," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 689-721, August.
    14. Berger, Allen N. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Zhou, Mingming, 2009. "Bank ownership and efficiency in China: What will happen in the world's largest nation?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 113-130, January.
    15. Pessarossi, Pierre & Godlewski, Christophe J. & Weill, Laurent, 2012. "Foreign bank lending and information asymmetries in China: Empirical evidence from the syndicated loan market," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 423-433.
    16. Jiang, Guohua & Lee, Charles M.C. & Yue, Heng, 2010. "Tunneling through intercorporate loans: The China experience," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 1-20, October.
    17. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    18. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:2:p:397-412 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Yener Altunbas & Alper Kara & David Marques-Ibanez, 2010. "Large debt financing: syndicated loans versus corporate bonds," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(5), pages 437-458.
    20. Fama, Eugene F., 1985. "What's different about banks?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 29-39, January.
    21. Galina Hale, 2007. "Prospects for China's corporate bond market," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue mar16.
    22. Tse, Chin-Bun & Rodgers, Timothy, 2011. "Can corporate tax shields explain the long-term borrowing behaviour of Chinese listed firms?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 103-112, April.
    23. Johnson, Shane A., 1997. "An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Corporate Debt Ownership Structure," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(1), pages 47-69, March.
    24. Esho, Neil & Lam, Yung & Sharpe, Ian G., 2001. "Choice of Financing Source in International Debt Markets," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 10(3-4), pages 276-305, July.
    25. Huang, Guihai & Song, Frank M., 2006. "The determinants of capital structure: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 14-36.
    26. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    27. Smith, Clifford Jr., 1986. "Investment banking and the capital acquisition process," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-2), pages 3-29.
    28. William T. Allen & Han Shen, 2012. "Assessing China's Top-Down Securities Markets," NBER Chapters, in: Capitalizing China, pages 149-195, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    30. Denis, David J. & Mihov, Vassil T., 2003. "The choice among bank debt, non-bank private debt, and public debt: evidence from new corporate borrowings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 3-28, October.
    31. Qian, Yanmin & Tian, Yao & Wirjanto, Tony S., 2009. "Do Chinese publicly listed companies adjust their capital structure toward a target level?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 662-676, December.
    32. Violaine Cousin, 2011. "Capital Adequacy and Risk Management," Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions, in: Banking in China, edition 0, chapter 13, pages 181-197, Palgrave Macmillan.
    33. Chen, Gongmeng & Firth, Michael & Xu, Liping, 2009. "Does the type of ownership control matter? Evidence from China's listed companies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 171-181, January.
    34. Blackwell, David W. & Kidwell, David S., 1988. "An investigation of cost differences between public sales and private placements of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 253-278, December.
    35. Michael Chui & Dietrich Domanski & Peter Kugler & Jimmy Shek, 2010. "The collapse of international bank finance during the crisis: evidence from syndicated loan markets," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:zbw:bofitp:2015_033 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:zbw:bofitp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201601071000 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Klein, Paul-Olivier & Weill, Laurent, 2015. "Is it worth issuing bonds in China? Evidence from stock market reactions," BOFIT Discussion Papers 33/2015, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    4. Lin, Boqiang & Su, Tong, 2022. "Green bond vs conventional bond: Outline the rationale behind issuance choices in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    5. Taining Wang & Jinjing Tian & Feng Yao, 2021. "Does high debt ratio influence Chinese firms’ performance? A semiparametric stochastic frontier approach with zero inefficiency," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 587-636, August.
    6. Shao, Yingying & Hernández, Rodrigo & Liu, Pu, 2015. "Government intervention and corporate policies: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1205-1215.
    7. Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Suman Lodh & Monomita Nandy, 2018. "How has the global financial crisis affected syndicated loan terms in emerging markets? Evidence from China," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(4), pages 478-491, October.
    8. Fungáčová, Zuzana & Korhonen, Iikka, 2011. "Like China, the Chinese banking sector is in a class of its own," BOFIT Discussion Papers 32/2011, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    9. Feng, Xunan & Johansson, Anders C., 2018. "Firm Ownership, Political Participation, and Access to Finance through Public Bond Offerings in China," Stockholm School of Economics Asia Working Paper Series 2018-50, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm China Economic Research Institute.
    10. Paul‐Olivier Klein & Laurent Weill, 2018. "Bond offerings in China : The role of ownership," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 26(3), pages 363-399, July.
    11. Bhattacharjee, Arnab & Han, Jie, 2014. "Financial distress of Chinese firms: Microeconomic, macroeconomic and institutional influences," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 244-262.
    12. Schweizer, Denis & Walker, Thomas & Zhang, Aoran, 2023. "False hopes and blind beliefs: How political connections affect China's corporate bond market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    13. Kanwal Iqbal Khan & Faisal Qadeer & Mário Nuno Mata & José Chavaglia Neto & Qurat ul An Sabir & Jéssica Nunes Martins & José António Filipe, 2021. "Core Predictors of Debt Specialization: A New Insight to Optimal Capital Structure," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-25, April.
    14. Xu, Si & He, Xiaoyi & Cao, Chunfang, 2023. "Struggle for survival in credit crunch: The effect of interest rate deregulation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    15. Nagano, Mamoru, 2018. "What promotes/prevents firm bond issuance in emerging economies: Bank–firm relationship or information asymmetry?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 161-177.
    16. Luqiao Zhang & Biao Mi & Yun Shen & Liang Han, 2023. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do: loan syndication in a state-dominated market," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1469-1494, May.
    17. Vandana Bhama & Pramod Kumar Jain & Surendra Singh Yadav, 2019. "Pecking Order Test at Varying Debt Levels: A Comparative Study of Indian and Chinese Firms," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 18(2), pages 237-261, August.
    18. Zhongfei Chen & Yu Xiao & Kangqi Jiang, 2023. "Corporate green innovation and stock liquidity in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(S1), pages 1381-1415, April.
    19. repec:bof:bofitp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201601071000 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Klein, Paul-Olivier & Weill, Laurent, 2015. "Is it worth issuing bonds in China? Evidence from stock market reactions," BOFIT Discussion Papers 33/2015, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:zbw:bofitp:2011_029 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Pessarossi, Pierre & Weill, Laurent, 2013. "Choice of corporate debt in China: The role of state ownership," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 1-16.
    3. Ron Christian Antonczyk & Wolfgang Breuer & Astrid Juliane Salzmann, 2014. "Long-Term Orientation and Relationship Lending: A Cross-Cultural Study on the Effect of Time Preferences on the Choice of Corporate Debt," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 381-415, June.
    4. Ovtchinnikov, Alexei V., 2016. "Debt decisions in deregulated industries," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 230-254.
    5. Daniel Tut, 2022. "Debt dynamic, debt dispersion and corporate governance," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(4), pages 744-771, July.
    6. Białek-Jaworska Anna & Krawczyk Tomasz, 2019. "Corporate bonds or bank loans? The choice of funding sources and information disclosure of Polish listed companies," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 6(53), pages 262-285, January.
    7. Meneghetti, Costanza, 2012. "Managerial Incentives and the Choice between Public and Bank Debt," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 65-91.
    8. Yener Altunbas & Alper Kara & David Marques-Ibanez, 2010. "Large debt financing: syndicated loans versus corporate bonds," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(5), pages 437-458.
    9. Boubaker, Sabri & Saffar, Walid & Sassi, Syrine, 2018. "Product market competition and debt choice," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 204-224.
    10. Chong, Beng Soon, 2010. "The impact of divergence in voting and cash-flow rights on the use of bank debt," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 158-174, April.
    11. Isin, Adnan Anil, 2018. "Tax avoidance and cost of debt: The case for loan-specific risk mitigation and public debt financing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 344-378.
    12. Gwatidzo, Tendai & Ojah, Kalu, 2014. "Firms’ debt choice in Africa: Are institutional infrastructure and non-traditional determinants important?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 152-166.
    13. Kalu Ojah & Justo Manrique, 2005. "Determinants of corporate debt structure in a privately dominated debt market: a study of the Spanish capital market," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(7), pages 455-468.
    14. Lin, Chen & Ma, Yue & Malatesta, Paul & Xuan, Yuhai, 2013. "Corporate ownership structure and the choice between bank debt and public debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 517-534.
    15. García-Teruel, Pedro J. & Martínez-Solano, Pedro & Sánchez-Ballesta, Juan Pedro, 2014. "The role of accruals quality in the access to bank debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 186-193.
    16. Yu, Hai-Chin & Sopranzetti, Ben J. & Lee, Cheng-Few, 2012. "Multiple banking relationships, managerial ownership concentration and firm value: A simultaneous equations approach," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 286-297.
    17. Harvey, Campbell R. & Lins, Karl V. & Roper, Andrew H., 2004. "The effect of capital structure when expected agency costs are extreme," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 3-30, October.
    18. Davydov, Denis & Nikkinen, Jussi & Vähämaa, Sami, 2014. "Does the decision to issue public debt affect firm valuation? Russian evidence," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 136-151.
    19. Simon H. Kwan & Willard T. Carleton, 2010. "Financial Contracting and the Choice between Private Placement and Publicly Offered Bonds," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(5), pages 907-929, August.
    20. Gomes, Armando & Phillips, Gordon, 2012. "Why do public firms issue private and public securities?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 619-658.
    21. Esho, Neil & Lam, Yung & Sharpe, Ian G., 2002. "Are maturity and debt type decisions interrelated? Evidence from Australian firms in international capital markets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 549-569, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate bonds; Syndicated loans; Debt choice; China; State ownership;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • P34 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Finance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:26:y:2013:i:c:p:1-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.