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Price Uncertainty and Debt Covenants: Evidence from U.S. Oil Producers

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Listed:
  • Sandrine Docgne
  • Diogo Duarte
  • Isil ErelEditor

Abstract

We use an exogenous, forward-looking measure of price uncertainty to examine the effect of uncertainty on the use of covenants in private and public debt contracts. The effect of uncertainty differs significantly in loans versus bonds, suggesting that private and public lenders face different incentives when contracting under high uncertainty. In loans, uncertainty increases the use of performance-based covenants. In contrast, covenant usage decreases in bonds, but firms with low agency conflicts mainly drive this effect. However, bondholders require higher spreads to offset the lack of protection with fewer covenants. Hedging does not affect the covenant-uncertainty relationship for debt contracts. (JEL: G21, G23, G32, D82, D81)

Suggested Citation

  • Sandrine Docgne & Diogo Duarte & Isil ErelEditor, 2024. "Price Uncertainty and Debt Covenants: Evidence from U.S. Oil Producers," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(3), pages 712-738.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rcorpf:v:13:y:2024:i:3:p:712-738.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rcfs/cfac033
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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