关键词: 债券契约条款, 资本结构调整速度, 信息透明度, 内部控制, 融资成本

Abstract: Based on the manually searched bond covenant information of Chinese listed companies, this paper constructs a bond covenant index to study the impact of bond covenants on the speed of capital structure adjustment. The results show that the increase of bond covenants helps to improve the speed of corporate capital structure adjustment. In terms of covenant types, options clauses, asset transfer restrictions, investment restrictions and event-driven covenants have a more positive impact on the speed of capital structure adjustment. After further distinguishing the direction and method of corporate capital structure adjustment, this paper finds that the bond covenant mainly promotes the upward adjustment of corporate capital structure by affecting debt financing. The heterogeneity test finds that the positive association between bond covenant terms and the speed of recapitalization is more significant in state-owned firms and firms with better legal environments. Furthermore, good corporate information transparency and internal control help strengthen the positive effect of bond covenants on the speed of corporate capital structure adjustment, and a more complete bond covenant helps reduce the cost of corporate financing to increase the speed of recapitalization. The results of this paper suggest that the constraints generated by the improvement of bond covenants are not a cocoon for bond issuers, but help enterprises to reduce financing costs so as to achieve the goal of adjusting their capital structure more flexibly.

Key words: Bond Covenants, Capital Structure Adjustment Speed, Information Transparency, Internal Control, Financing Costs