Home
Scholarly Works
Credit risk spillovers and cash holdings
Other

Credit risk spillovers and cash holdings

Abstract

This paper examines how credit risk spillovers affect corporate financial flexibility. We construct separate empirical proxies to disentangle the two channels of credit risk spillovers—credit risk contagion (CRC), where one firm's default increases the distress likelihood of another; and product market rivalry (PMR), where the same default strengthens the position of a competitor. We show that firms facing greater CRC have weaker subsequent operating performance and must contend with less favorable bank loan terms. Meanwhile, they accumulate more cash by issuing equity, selling assets, and reducing investment and payout. In contrast, PMR generally has opposite, albeit weaker, effects. Our findings suggest that credit risk spillovers, especially CRC, play an important role in corporate liquidity management.

Authors

Lei J; Qiu J; Wan C; Yu F

Volume

68

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Date

June 1, 2021

DOI

10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.101965

Journal

Journal of Corporate Finance

ISSN

0929-1199

Contact the Experts team