Review of capital structure theories : empirical evidence of UK market

• Κύριος συγγραφέας: Σεφεριάδης, Κωνσταντίνος
• Άλλοι συγγραφείς: Τσαγκανός, Αθανάσιος
• Μορφή: Thesis
• Γλώσσα: English
• Έκδοση: 2016
• Θέματα: Corporate leverage; Capital structure theories; Debt; Government borrowing; Corporate finance; Regression models; UK corporations; Χρηματοοικονομική μόχλευση; Θεωρίες κεφαλαιακής διάρθρωσης; Χρέος; Κυβερνητικός δανεισμός; Χρηματοοικονομική διοίκηση; Επιχειρήσεις Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου; 332.041 5

The ‘average’ firm in the market of United Kingdom has changed its leverage ratio dramatically in the last three decades, following some patterns which apparently cannot be explained by applying simplistic methods. In this paper we try to shed some light in the main stream of the Capital Structure Theories and its critical determinants that influence the evolution in the period of our study. Using the equity decisions of an initial dataset of 3489 firms in UK, we try to reply in three main issues. First, using descriptive statistics, we try to consider how corporate capital structures have evolved during the last three decades in UK. Then, we investigate if existing empirical models explain the changes in the issuing of debt and equity. And last, if these models cannot explain the changes, we examine the nature of forces that are behind variation in financial policy. In our analysis, with a view to find the determinant forces behind, we examine a wide set of linear regressions, concluding to a model comprising of the most prominent factors that affect capital structure changes. Our regression framework is an improvement that can implement the foundation for much future work.