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Recovery Rates and Macroeconomic Conditions: The Role of Loan Covenants

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  • Zhang, Zhipeng

Abstract

For U.S. firms from 1988 to 2007, firms with stricter loan covenants had higher firm-level default recovery rates. Covenants were stricter, moreover, when set during downturns in the business cycle. This implies a negative dependence of recovery rates on lagged macroeconomic conditions. That is, bank loan contracts established in economic recessions have tight covenants, leading later to higher recovery rates. My empirical evidence suggests that private creditors have significant influence on firms' bankruptcy decisions through the channel of covenants in debt contracts.

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  • Zhang, Zhipeng, 2009. "Recovery Rates and Macroeconomic Conditions: The Role of Loan Covenants," MPRA Paper 17521, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:17521
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    3. Zhang, Zhipeng, 2009. "Who Pulls the Plug? Theory and Evidence on Corporate Bankruptcy Decisions," MPRA Paper 17676, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Oct 2009.
    4. Liu, Wenchien & Miu, Peter & Chang, Yuanchen & Ozdemir, Bogie, 2012. "Information asymmetry and bank regulation: Can the spread of debt contracts be explained by recovery rates?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 123-150.
    5. Isil Erel & Brandon Julio & Woojin Kim & Michael S. Weisbach, 2012. "Macroeconomic Conditions and Capital Raising," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(2), pages 341-376.
    6. Khieu, Hinh D. & Mullineaux, Donald J. & Yi, Ha-Chin, 2012. "The determinants of bank loan recovery rates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 923-933.
    7. Achleitner, Ann-Kristin & Braun, Reiner & Tappeiner, Florian, 2009. "Structure and determinants of financial covenants in leveraged buyouts - evidence from an economy with strong creditor rights," CEFS Working Paper Series 2009-15, Technische Universität München (TUM), Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS).
    8. Jean Helwege & Jing-Zhi Huang & Yuan Wang, 2017. "Debt Covenants and Cross-Sectional Equity Returns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1835-1854, June.
    9. Nazemi, Abdolreza & Fabozzi, Frank J., 2018. "Macroeconomic variable selection for creditor recovery rates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 14-25.
    10. Akdoğu, Evrim & Paukowits, Aysun Alp & Celikyurt, Ugur, 2023. "Bondholder governance, takeover likelihood, and division of gains," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Anna Watson, 2019. "Financial Frictions, the Great Trade Collapse and International Trade over the Business Cycle," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 19-64, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Recovery rate; Bankruptcy; Loan covenant; Creditor control; Business cycle;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • 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
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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