Bartholdy, Jan, Mateus, Cesario and Olson, Dennis (2015) Do Portuguese private firms follow pecking order financing? The European Journal of Finance Special Issue: 2010 Portuguese Finance Network Conference, 21 (10-11). pp. 848-866. ISSN 1351-847X (Print), 1466-4364 (Online) (doi:10.1080/1351847X.2012.706815)

PDF (Publisher PDF) 15001_Mateus_Do Portuguese private firms follow pecking order financing (pub PDF) 2015.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (299kB)

Abstract

This paper tests for pecking order behavior in medium-sized private Portuguese firms. In contrast to the usual split between internal funds, debt, and external equity, we separate debt into four components – cheap trade credits (CTC), bank loans (BL), other loans, and expensive credits (EC). We use breakpoint tests to identify when firms switch between funding sources by examining the change in each funding source based on the financing deficit remaining after the previous pecking order funding source has been used. Our tests indicate that Portuguese companies generally move from lower cost to higher cost financing sources, but they do not exhaust each type of debt before moving on to the next funding source in the pecking order. Such behavior is consistent with a loose interpretation of pecking order financing, but not a strict interpretation of the theory. Instead, Portuguese firms may be balancing pecking order financing with a need to maintain some degree of financing flexibility.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Capital Structure, Pecking Order Theory
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Business > Department of Accounting & Finance
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2016 09:37
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/15001

Actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads