Credit Ratings and Capital Structure in Chinese Listed Companies

Abstract This paper examines to what extent credit ratings affect capital structure decisions in Chinese listed companies. The data sample contains 2486 Chinese non-financial companies listed on A-share of Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange (excluding companies listed in the growth enterprise mar...

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Main Author: WANG, QIAN
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46114/
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author WANG, QIAN
author_facet WANG, QIAN
author_sort WANG, QIAN
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Abstract This paper examines to what extent credit ratings affect capital structure decisions in Chinese listed companies. The data sample contains 2486 Chinese non-financial companies listed on A-share of Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange (excluding companies listed in the growth enterprise market) in the period 2010 to 2016. Three considerations about credit ratings are investigated. The author first concentrates on the effect of accessing to the Chinese bond market on firm’ s leverage, which is measured by having credit ratings. Secondly, the author is interested in how being near a change of rating level affects leverage adjustment. The final one identifies how firms will change their capital structure after an upgrade or downgrade in credit ratings. The test models include credit rating proxies aiming to capture the credit rating effects on capital structure. Overall, the author finds firms are expected to be affected by credit ratings when they make decisions about capital structure. Firms participating into bond market are more likely to have higher leverage than other firms. Firms tend to change their leverage once there is a potential change in credit rating, and this affects more on firms near a downgrade of ratings. Concerning about the change in credit ratings, the author finds firms experiencing a downgrade in credit ratings will reduce leverage while it is not significant for upgrade firms adjusting their capital structure. The author concludes that firms concern about the credit ratings when they determine their capital structure. In general, the finds are consisted with previous empirical studies in developed countries.
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spelling nottingham-461142018-04-17T14:38:38Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46114/ Credit Ratings and Capital Structure in Chinese Listed Companies WANG, QIAN Abstract This paper examines to what extent credit ratings affect capital structure decisions in Chinese listed companies. The data sample contains 2486 Chinese non-financial companies listed on A-share of Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange (excluding companies listed in the growth enterprise market) in the period 2010 to 2016. Three considerations about credit ratings are investigated. The author first concentrates on the effect of accessing to the Chinese bond market on firm’ s leverage, which is measured by having credit ratings. Secondly, the author is interested in how being near a change of rating level affects leverage adjustment. The final one identifies how firms will change their capital structure after an upgrade or downgrade in credit ratings. The test models include credit rating proxies aiming to capture the credit rating effects on capital structure. Overall, the author finds firms are expected to be affected by credit ratings when they make decisions about capital structure. Firms participating into bond market are more likely to have higher leverage than other firms. Firms tend to change their leverage once there is a potential change in credit rating, and this affects more on firms near a downgrade of ratings. Concerning about the change in credit ratings, the author finds firms experiencing a downgrade in credit ratings will reduce leverage while it is not significant for upgrade firms adjusting their capital structure. The author concludes that firms concern about the credit ratings when they determine their capital structure. In general, the finds are consisted with previous empirical studies in developed countries. 2017-09-13 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46114/1/%E6%AF%95%E4%B8%9A%E8%AE%BA%E6%96%87%E7%BB%88%E7%BB%88%E7%BB%88%E6%9E%81%E7%89%88.pdf WANG, QIAN (2017) Credit Ratings and Capital Structure in Chinese Listed Companies. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] credit ratings capital structure leverage
spellingShingle credit ratings
capital structure
leverage
WANG, QIAN
Credit Ratings and Capital Structure in Chinese Listed Companies
title Credit Ratings and Capital Structure in Chinese Listed Companies
title_full Credit Ratings and Capital Structure in Chinese Listed Companies
title_fullStr Credit Ratings and Capital Structure in Chinese Listed Companies
title_full_unstemmed Credit Ratings and Capital Structure in Chinese Listed Companies
title_short Credit Ratings and Capital Structure in Chinese Listed Companies
title_sort credit ratings and capital structure in chinese listed companies
topic credit ratings
capital structure
leverage
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46114/