Determinants of debt maturity structure

: evidence from European publicly traded firms

Abstract

I examined the empirical determinants of Debt Maturity Structure on European publicly traded Firms over the 2010-2023 period using a Maturity measure that not only accounts for debt instruments but also for other debt-like obligations present on firms’ balance sheets. Therefore, further analysis mixed accounting and market data to assign proxies for textbook hypothesis. I concluded that Debt Maturity Structure varies directly with firm size and Asset maturity within firm and time variation, stating that larger firms with longer-term asset maturities have longerterm debt. Additionally, I found an intriguing relation of Debt Maturity with Credit Rating: I verified a non-monotonic relation within firm, but an opposite relationship (monotonic) when assessing the pooled cross-sectional and time-series data. Lastly, I found strong support for the empirical prediction of a negative relation of Debt Maturity with Earnings Variability, evidencing that more volatile firms, regarding their EBITDA, opt for shorter debt maturities. When conducting sub-sample analysis regarding European Regions and Industrial Groups, results were clearly distinct among region and groups, highlighting country and industry specific Debt Maturity Structure dynamics.

Date of Award	3 Feb 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Diana Bonfim (Supervisor)