Estrutura de capitais do sector da saúde em Portugal

Abstract

This project had the objective of analyzing the factors that influence the most the capital structure of Portuguese companies operating within the healthcare industry in Portugal. Using data from SABI, between 2007 and 2012, we were able, not only to set a sample of the entire universe of operating firms within the healthcare industry in Portugal, but also to classify them as public companies, private SME or big companies. Based on several studies of the capital structure theories initiated by Modigliani & Miller (1958), we have tested the following variables: Size, Operational Risk, Profitability, Asset Composition, Other Tax Benefits beyond debt, Business Growth and Age. The dependent variable that we used was Leverage. The basis for the used methodology follows the groundbreaking empirical studies in the field of capital structure, namely the one from Rajan & Zingales (1995). We concluded that within the healthcare industry all explanatory factors significantly explain leverage, with exception of Operational Risk and Other Tax Benefits beyond debt. The model’s intercept was not found to be statistically significant. We also report that the factors Business Growth and Size hold statistical significance across public companies. Regarding private companies, we found that all the proposed factors significantly explain leverage across SME, whereas, regarding big companies, only the factor Business Growth significantly explain the firms’ capital structure.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ricardo Cunha (Supervisor) & Paulo Alves (Supervisor)