IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbfina/v37y2013i5p1475-1489.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bankruptcy risk, costs and corporate diversification

Author

Listed:
  • Singhal, Rajeev
  • Zhu, Yun (Ellen)

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of diversification on firms that file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Prior research suggests that diversification affects both the probability and costs of distress. Treating bankruptcy as a special case of distress, we find that diversification reduces the likelihood of bankruptcy and liquidation in Chapter 11, which is consistent with the coinsurance hypothesis. However, we observe higher bankruptcy costs as measured by time spent in Chapter 11 and inefficient segment investment for diversified firms. Our evidence is consistent with the idea that diversification provides benefits to managers in terms of job security rather than to firms. Our findings may help firms to make diversification decisions and creditors determine lending policies toward different forms of organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Singhal, Rajeev & Zhu, Yun (Ellen), 2013. "Bankruptcy risk, costs and corporate diversification," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1475-1489.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:37:y:2013:i:5:p:1475-1489
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2011.11.019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378426611003384
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2011.11.019?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1990. "Do Managerial Objectives Drive Bad Acquisitions?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(1), pages 31-48, March.
    2. Furfine, Craig H. & Rosen, Richard J., 2011. "Mergers increase default risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 832-849, September.
    3. Stein, Jeremy C, 1997. "Internal Capital Markets and the Competition for Corporate Resources," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 111-133, March.
    4. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1989. "Management entrenchment : The case of manager-specific investments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 123-139, November.
    5. Robert Gertner & Eric Powers & David Scharfstein, 2002. "Learning about Internal Capital Markets from Corporate Spin‐offs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2479-2506, December.
    6. Arturo Bris & Ivo Welch & Ning Zhu, 2006. "The Costs of Bankruptcy: Chapter 7 Liquidation versus Chapter 11 Reorganization," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(3), pages 1253-1303, June.
    7. Scott, James H, Jr, 1977. "On the Theory of Conglomerate Mergers," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1235-1250, September.
    8. Raghuram Rajan & Henri Servaes & Luigi Zingales, 2000. "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 35-80, February.
    9. Scott Whisenant & Srinivasan Sankaraguruswamy & K. Raghunandan, 2003. "Evidence on the Joint Determination of Audit and Non‐Audit Fees," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 721-744, September.
    10. Aharony, Joseph & Jones, Charles P & Swary, Itzhak, 1980. "An Analysis of Risk and Return Characteristics of Corporate Bankruptcy Using Capital Market Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 35(4), pages 1001-1016, September.
    11. Lewellen, Wilbur G, 1971. "A Pure Financial Rationale for the Conglomerate Merger," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 26(2), pages 521-537, May.
    12. Kalay, Avner & Singhal, Rajeev & Tashjian, Elizabeth, 2007. "Is Chapter 11 costly?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 772-796, June.
    13. Ahn, Seoungpil & Denis, David J. & Denis, Diane K., 2006. "Leverage and investment in diversified firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 317-337, February.
    14. Sattar A. Mansi & David M. Reeb, 2002. "Corporate Diversification: What Gets Discounted?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 2167-2183, October.
    15. Jose Manuel Campa & Simi Kedia, 2002. "Explaining the Diversification Discount," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 1731-1762, August.
    16. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    17. Pulvino, Todd C., 1999. "Effects of bankruptcy court protection on asset sales," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 151-186, May.
    18. Betker, Brian L, 1995. "Management's Incentives, Equity's Bargaining Power, and Deviations from Absolute Priority in Chapter 11 Bankruptcies," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(2), pages 161-183, April.
    19. Hayne E. Leland, 2007. "Financial Synergies and the Optimal Scope of the Firm: Implications for Mergers, Spinoffs, and Structured Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 765-807, April.
    20. Hyun-Han Shin & René M. Stulz, 1998. "Are Internal capital Markets Efficient?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(2), pages 531-552.
    21. Rajesh K. Aggarwal & Andrew A. Samwick, 2003. "Performance Incentives within Firms: The Effect of Managerial Responsibility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1613-1650, August.
    22. Thorburn, Karin S., 2000. "Bankruptcy auctions: costs, debt recovery, and firm survival," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 337-368, December.
    23. David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "The Dark Side of Internal Capital Markets: Divisional Rent‐Seeking and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2537-2564, December.
    24. Shumway, Tyler, 2001. "Forecasting Bankruptcy More Accurately: A Simple Hazard Model," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(1), pages 101-124, January.
    25. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:5:p:1495-1532 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Martin, John D. & Sayrak, Akin, 2003. "Corporate diversification and shareholder value: a survey of recent literature," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 37-57, January.
    27. Kaplan, Steven N., 1994. "Campeau's acquisition of Federated : Post-bankruptcy results," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 123-136, February.
    28. Matsusaka, John G, 2001. "Corporate Diversification, Value Maximization, and Organizational Capabilities," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(3), pages 409-431, July.
    29. Naveen Khanna & Sheri Tice, 2001. "The Bright Side of Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(4), pages 1489-1528, August.
    30. Berger, Philip G. & Ofek, Eli, 1995. "Diversification's effect on firm value," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 39-65, January.
    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. Ushijima, Tatsuo, 2020. "More-money and less-cash effects of diversification: Evidence from Japanese firms," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    2. Nilakshi Borah & Liu Pan & Jung Chul Park & Nan Shao, 2018. "Does corporate diversification reduce value in high technology firms?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 683-718, October.
    3. Raffaele Morandi Stagni & Andrea Fosfuri & Juan Santaló, 2021. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush: Technology search strategies and competition due to import penetration," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(8), pages 1516-1544, August.
    4. Xu, Chang & Katchova, Ani, 2018. "The Effect of Bank Consolidation on Agricultural Loan Availability," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273810, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Viswanathan Nagarajan & Pitabas Mohanty & Apalak Khatua, 2023. "Financing effects of corporate diversification: A review," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(7), pages 2555-2585, October.
    6. Wang, Li-Hsun, 2017. "Accounting quality and information asymmetry of foreign direct investment firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 950-958.
    7. Maziar Ghasemi & Nazrul Hisyam Ab Razak* & Komeil Dehghani, 2018. "Determinants of Debt Structure in Ace Market Bursa Malaysia: A Panel Data Analysis," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, pages 390-395:6.
    8. Wang, Li-Hsun & Lin, Chu-Hsiung & Fung, Hung-Gay & Kao, Tzu-Chuan, 2019. "Foreign direct investment and downside risk: Evidence from Taiwan," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    9. Tokbolat, Yerzhan & Le, Hang, 2022. "Covid-19: Corporate diversification and post-crash returns," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    10. USHIJIMA Tatsuo, 2016. "Corporate Diversification, Employee Bargaining Power, and Wages," Discussion papers 16103, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. repec:cuf:journl:y:2017:v:18:i:1:agyei-boapeah is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Gupta, Kartick & Krishnamurti, Chandrasekhar, 2018. "Does corporate social responsibility engagement benefit distressed firms? The role of moral and exchange capital," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 249-262.
    13. Pengfei Luo & Zhaojun Yang, 2021. "Investment and financing for cash flow discounted with group diversity," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 21(3), pages 769-785, September.
    14. Marisetty, Vijaya Bhaskar & Moturi, Sairam, 2023. "Boundaries of the firm and real earnings management," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    15. Henry Agyei-Boapeah, 2017. "Easing Financing and M&A Investment Constraints: The Role of Corporate Industrial Diversification," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 18(2), pages 277-290, November.
    16. Stef, Nicolae & Ben Jabeur, Sami & Scherer, Robert F., 2022. "Time to resolve insolvency and political elections," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    17. Islam, Md Shahidul & Alam, Md Samsul & Bin Hasan, Shehub & Mollah, Sabur, 2022. "Firm-level political risk and distance-to-default," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    18. Ji, Yu & Shi, Lina & Zhang, Shunming, 2022. "Digital finance and corporate bankruptcy risk: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    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. Stefan Erdorf & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels & Nicolas Heinrichs & Michael Matz, 2013. "Corporate diversification and firm value: a survey of recent literature," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 27(2), pages 187-215, June.
    2. Glaser, Markus & Müller, Sebastian, 2006. "Der Diversification Discount in Deutschland: Existiert ein Bewertungsabschlag für diversifizierte Unternehmen?," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 06-13, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    3. Hovakimian, Gayané, 2016. "Excess value and restructurings by diversified firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 1-19.
    4. Dey, Tania & Banerjee, Rajabrata, 2011. "Can Corporate Diversification Promote Firm Value? A Survey," MPRA Paper 28928, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Patrick Bielstein & Mario Fischer & Christoph Kaserer, 2018. "The cost of capital effect of M&A transactions: Disentangling coinsurance from the diversification discount," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 24(4), pages 650-679, September.
    6. Ma. Belén Lozano García & Alberto de Miguel Hidalgo & Diana Monserrat Ríos Rodríguez, 2013. "Responsible Diversification: Knowing Enough About Diversification To Do It Responsibly: Motives, Measures And Consequences," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 1(15), pages 1-19.
    7. Charles A. Brown & Chris R. McNeil, 2008. "Internal capital market subsidies and industry downturns," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(3), pages 337-361, September.
    8. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Doukas, John A. & Koursaros, Demetris & Louca, Christodoulos, 2019. "Valuation effects of overconfident CEOs on corporate diversification and refocusing decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 182-204.
    9. Glaser, Markus & Müller, Sebastian, 2006. "Der Diversification Discount in Deutschland : existiert ein Bewertungsabschlag für diversifizierte Unternehmen?," Papers 06-13, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    10. Ekkayokkaya, Manapol & Paudyal, Krishna, 2015. "A trade-off in corporate diversification," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 275-292.
    11. Vojislav Maksimovic & Gordon Phillips, 2002. "Do Conglomerate Firms Allocate Resources Inefficiently Across Industries? Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(2), pages 721-767, April.
    12. Matsusaka, John G. & Nanda, Vikram, 2002. "Internal Capital Markets and Corporate Refocusing," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 176-211, April.
    13. Gautier, Axel & Heider, Florian, 2002. "The Benefit and Cost of Winner Picking: Redistribution Vs Incentives," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 31/2002, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    14. Martynova, M., 2006. "The market for corporate control and corporate governance regulation in Europe," Other publications TiSEM 8651e281-4914-41f2-ac14-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. Martin, John D. & Sayrak, Akin, 2003. "Corporate diversification and shareholder value: a survey of recent literature," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 37-57, January.
    16. Kim, Sehoon, 2020. "Disappearing Discounts: Hedge Fund Activism in Conglomerates," MPRA Paper 100876, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Stein, Jeremy C., 2003. "Agency, information and corporate investment," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 111-165, Elsevier.
    18. Aivazian, Varouj A. & Qiu, Jiaping & Rahaman, Mohammad M., 2015. "Bank loan contracting and corporate diversification: Does organizational structure matter to lenders?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 252-282.
    19. Felipe Balmaceda, 2009. "Mergers and CEO Power," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 165(3), pages 454-486, September.
    20. Qiming Li & Wenhuan Wang & Yiping Lou & Ke Cheng & Xiaoguang Yang, 2016. "Diversification and Corporate Performance: Evidence from China’s Listed Energy Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-17, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bankruptcy cost; Bankruptcy risk; Corporate diversification; Chapter 11;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    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:jbfina:v:37:y:2013:i:5:p:1475-1489. 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/jbf .

    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.