Empirical Studies on Financial Intermediation and Corporate Policies
Abstract
This thesis investigates the impact of financial intermediaries on capital
structures, corporate governance structures and the performance of
firms. Throughout the world, financial intermediaries have powerful
and influential positions in financial markets. The intermediaries have
both the incentives and the means to influence the financial policies
of the firms and initiate governance changes in underperforming
management teams. On the contrary, investors have limited ability to
exercise control, even though they provide debt and equity financing
to firms.
This thesis comprises four empirical studies. In the first study, the author
analyses the impact of information asymmetry between the U.S. firms
and their lenders on firms choice of debt maturity. The second study
shows how firm-bank relations in the form of shared board positions
and equity ownerships influence capital structure decisions of Dutch
firms. The following examination in the third study of Dutch managerial
and supervisory board turnover further demonstrates the strong position
of financial institutions in disciplining underperforming management.
The fourth and final analysis in this thesis relates the dispersion in
analyst forecasts to the differences in investor opinions and investigates
how the heterogeneity of investor beliefs affects prices of European
stocks.