Corporate Loan Spreads, Market Power, and the Default-free Rate

10.6293/AQAFA.2012.10.05

Aron A. Gottesman

Credit Spreads ； Loans ； London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) ； Debt

Advances in Quantitative Analysis of Finance and Accounting

10期（2012 / 06 / 01）

117 - 139

英文

The main purpose of this paper is to determine whether lenders influence prices through increasing loan spreads as the default-free rate decreases, exploiting borrowers' rate relief. The Loan Pricing Corporation DealScan database is employed to create large samples of revolving and term loans for empirical study. Both revolving and term loans sample data are independently estimated by using techniques that overcome simultaneous equation bias. We find evidence to support the contention that lenders of revolving loans influence loan spreads through increasing commitment fees as the default-free rate decreases. We do not find any evidence that lenders of term loans influence loan spreads.

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