Os determinantes da estrutura de capitais

: sociedades anónimas vs sociedades por quotas

Abstract

The present work aims to study and compare the determinants of Capital Structure of Portuguese companies named by “Sociedades Anónimas” and “Sociedades por Quotas” between 2007 and 2012. Modigliani & Miller (1958) were the main pioneers of this subject and several theories have been developed around this, such as the pecking order, trade-off, agency and information asymmetry. In our study we try to explain the impact on total debt and medium and long term debt of the following factors: fixed assets; business volatility; size; profitability; growth; other tax benefits beyond debt; and age. Our research shows that from the selected factors only the business volatility did not agree with the assumptions made. Profitability and the tax benefits beyond debt factors besides debt have a negative impact on debt. Business volatility, size and fixed assets have a positive impact on debt. Age shows the expected positive sign regarding the medium and long term debt, but a negative sign in relation to the total debt. In regard to the comparative analysis between “Sociedades Anónimas” and “Sociedades por Quotas” we show that there were no significant differences on the impact of these factors the Capital Structures of these entity types.

Date of Award	2 Jul 2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paulo Alves (Supervisor) & Ricardo Cunha (Co-Supervisor)