Christophe J. Godlewski

Bank lending networks, experience, reputation, and borrowing costs : empirical evidence from the french syndicated lending market

We investigate the network structure of bank lending markets and evaluate the impact of lenders network centrality, considered a measure of their experience and reputation, on borrowing costs. We show that the French market for syndicated bank loans is a ‘small world characterized by large local density and short social distances between lenders. Such a network structure allows for better information and resources flows between banks thus enhancing their social captial. We then show that lenders experience and reputation play a significant role in reducing loan spreads and thus increasing borrowers wealth. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Do Markets Perceive Sukuk and Conventional Bonds as Different Financing Instruments

The last decade witnessed a proliferation in issues of sukuk, Islamic financial instruments structured to replicate the cash flows of conventional bonds. Using a market-based approach on Malaysian data, we consider whether investors react differently to the announcements of sukuk and conventional bond issues. Our findings suggest the stock market is neutral to announcements of conventional bond issues, but reacts negatively to announcements of sukuk issues. We attribute this finding to the excess demand for Islamic investment certificates and explain the difference in stock market reactions as an adverse selection mechanism that favors sukuk issuance by lower-quality debtor companies. Unlike previous studies, our findings indicate markets readily distinguish between sukuk and conventional bonds.

Why Do Large Firms Go for Islamic Loans

This paper examines motivations for large firms to choose an Islamic loan over a conventional loan. This investigation helps understanding the causes of the expansion of Islamic finance activities. We employ a dataset of Islamic and conventional syndicated loans from countries from the Middle East and from Southeast Asia for the period 2001-2009, testing determinants for the choice of an Islamic loan at the facility, firm, and country level. We find that loan characteristics do not influence the choice of an Islamic loan, suggesting that borrowers asking for an Islamic loan are not rationed in terms of maturity and amount. The quality of the borrower does not lead to influence the choice of an Islamic loan, meaning that Islamic loans are not associated with a different default risk than conventional loans. We identify three country-level determinants as potential driving forces expanding the preference for Islamic loans. The strongest determinant is religiosity, i.e. the share of Muslim population in a country, but the quality of institutions and level of financial development also play substantial roles.

Are Islamic Investment Certificates Special? Evidence on the Post-Announcement Performance of Sukuk Issues

The last decade has witnessed rapid expansion of Islamic financial instruments, notably with the proliferation of Islamic investment certificates called Sukuk. Sukuk generally represent the Islamic financial instrument equivalent to conventional bonds. We evaluate the economic differences between these financing techniques and appraise the implications on the future expansion of Sukuk. We use a market-based approach to investigate whether investors react differently to the announcements of issues of Sukuk and conventional bonds. We find that the stock market is neutral to the announcement of conventional bonds, but we observe a significant negative stock market reaction to the announcement of Sukuk. We explain this different stock market reaction using the adverse selection mechanism, which favors Sukuk issuance by lower-quality debtor companies. Unlike arguments presented in prior literature, our results support the view that differences exist between Sukuk and conventional bonds because the market is able to distinguish among these securities.

How sukuk shapes firm performance

With the large expansion of Islamic finance in the recent years, sukuk, which are the Sharia-compliant substitute to conventional bonds, are now becoming more prominent. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of sukuk issuance on firm performance. To do so, we analyze how stock market performance and operating performance are influenced by issuance of sukuk and bonds on a sample of Malaysian listed companies. We consider the short-term and medium-term stock market reaction through the computation of cumulative abnormal returns and buy-and-hold abnormal returns. We investigate the impact on operating performance by performing regressions and by calculating abnormal operating performance so that we can compare how issuance affects similar firms. We find that sukuk issuance generates a negative stock market reaction both in the short-term and in the medium-term. We also find evidence that issuing sukuk hampers operating performance. The analysis of abnormal operating performance shows that sukuk issuers have better performance than their matched bond issuers, but that sukuk contributes to reduce the gap in performance over time. Overall our results support the view that sukuk issuance hampers stock market performance, but that it is not attributable to a signaling effect on the bad financial situation of the issuer. We interpret our findings as evidence of adverse selection taking place on the financed projects and agency problems stemming from the specific sukuk structuring with stock market investors more reluctant to invest in sukuk issuers.

What Influences Stock Market Reaction to Sukuk Issues? The Impact of Scholars and Sukuk Types

Sukuk, the shari’a-compliant alternative mode of financing to conventional bonds, have considerably expanded over the last decade. We analyze the stock market reaction to two key features of sukuk: type and characteristics of the shari’a scholar certifying the issue. We use the event study methodology to measure abnormal returns for a sample of 131 sukuk from eight countries over the period 2006-2013 and find that Ijara sukuk structures exert a positive influence on the stock price of the issuing firm. We observe a similar positive impact from shari’a scholar reputation and proximity to issuer. Overall our results support the hypotheses that the type of sukuk and the choice of scholars hired to certify these securities matter for the market valuation of the issuing company.

Bank lending networks, experience, reputation, and borrowing costs

We investigate the network structure of syndicated lending markets and evaluate the impact of lenders’ network centrality, considered as measures of their experience and reputation, on borrowing costs. We show that the market for syndicated loans is a “small world” characterized by large local density and short social distances between lenders. Such a network structure allows for better information and resources flows between banks thus enhancing their social capital. We then show that lenders’ experience and reputation play a significant role in reducing loan spreads and thus increasing borrower’s wealth.

Better Borrowers, Fewer Banks?

We investigate the relationship between borrower quality and the structure of the pool of banks. First, we develop a theoretical model where the size of the banking pool is a credible signal of firm quality. We argue that better borrowers seek to disclose their quality in a credible way through the structure of the banking pool involving fewer banks. Second, we test our prediction using a sample of more than 3,000 loans from 19 European countries. We perform regressions of the number of bank lenders on various proxies of borrower quality. Our empirical tests corroborate the theoretical predictions. The size of the banking pool is a signal of borrower quality. Hence, good quality firms have fewer lenders in their banking pools.

Concentration in Corporate Bank Loans - What Do We Learn from European Comparisons?

The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate the determinants of creditor concentration in the use of bank loans by firms in a European cross-country framework. We analyze the influence of loan and borrower characteristics but also banking market structure and legal enforcement country-specific variables that are expected to influence the financial and strategic decision relative to the number of bank lenders. We find that firms tend to diversify sources of financing by reducing bank concentration when their level of quality is higher and both asymmetric information and the risk of early liquidation are minimal (larger, older, transparent, liquid and profitable firms). Furthermore, lenders’ monitoring appears to be an important feature of lending concentration, particularly in order to prevent private benefits extraction by insiders in legal environment where shareholders benefit from better protections.