Publications

June 2006 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Creditor Activism in Sovereign Debt: 'Vulture' Tactics or Market Backbone

By: Laura Alfaro and Ingrid Vogel

The role of distressed debt funds, also known as "vulture funds," in sovereign debt restructuring was a hotly debated topic, especially after the success of Elliot Associates in converting an $11 million investment in Peruvian bonds worth $21 million into a $58 million... View Details

Keywords: Vulture Funds; Borrowing and Debt; Bonds; Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Sovereign Finance; Government and Politics; Contracts; Business and Government Relations; Peru

February 1979
Case

Systems Engineering Laboratories, Inc.

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Choosing an equity offering or an offering of straight subordinated debt with a CCC credit rating and a 12.5% coupon. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Computer Industry

January 1995 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Note on Yield Conventions

By: Andre F. Perold and Wai Lee

Describes the principal conventions used to report yields on debt instruments. View Details

Keywords: Investment Return; Capital Markets; Asset Management; Reports; Conferences; Governing and Advisory Boards

24 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

Why Small Businesses Deserve More Credit

when the economy was growing and stable years following the global financial crisis at the turn of the decade, with conditions that mirrored the US small business landscape today, Kim notes. Researchers analyzed data for 3,169 small firms that were pre-approved for... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services; Banking

07 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 7, 2009

the original proofs of Ehlers and Klaus (2003) using his stronger independence condition, here we offer a short proof that uses the established result of Theorem 1 for the restricted domain R0. Download the working paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-110.pdf... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Charter Communications Bankruptcy

By: Paul A. Gompers and Emily Weisburst

Charter Communications' bankruptcy presents an opportunity for some of its creditors to convert their debt holdings into equity. A mutual fund manager must determine how to maximize his debt investment in Charter given the restructuring and decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Private Equity; Borrowing and Debt; Investment; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry

January 2004 (Revised March 2005)
Background Note

Bond Ratings

By: David F. Hawkins

Describes the considerations entering into a long-term debt rating. View Details

Keywords: Bonds

September 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Enman Oil, Inc. (A)

By: David F. Hawkins

Company pursues ways to reduce its debt-to-equity ratio by resorting to off-balance sheet debt transactions. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Financial Condition; Financing and Loans; United States

Research Summary

Sovereigns, Upstream Capital Flows and Global Imbalances

By: Laura Alfaro

We construct measures of net private and public capital flows for a large cross-section of developing countries considering both creditor and debtor side of the international debt transactions. Using these measures, we demonstrate that sovereign-to-sovereign... View Details

October 2022
Article

Sovereign Risk, Currency Risk, and Corporate Balance Sheets

By: Wenxin Du and Jesse Schreger

We provide a comprehensive account of the evolution of the currency composition of sovereign and corporate external borrowing by emerging markets from 2003 to 2017. We show that a higher reliance on foreign currency debt by the corporate sector is associated with... View Details

Keywords: Currency; International Finance

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2024
Working Paper

Corporate Debt, Boom-Bust Cycles, and Financial Crises

By: Victoria Ivashina, Sebnem Kalemli-Özcan, Luc Laeven and Karsten Müller

Using a new dataset on sectoral credit exposures covering financial and non-financial sectors in 115 economies over the period 1940–2014, we document the following evidence that corporate debt plays a key role in explaining boom-bust cycles, financial crises, and slow... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Economic Growth; Economic Sectors; Borrowing and Debt; Credit

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September 2017 (Revised February 2019)
Case

Blackstone's GSO Capital: Crosstex Investment

By: Victoria Ivashina, John D. Dionne and Jeffrey Boyar

This case focuses on the Blackstone credit arm, GSO Capital as it evaluated a proposal for an equity investment into the distressed company, Crosstex Energy L.P., an integrated midstream energy company, that was hit hard by declining natural gas prices during the 2008... View Details

Keywords: Distress Investing; Rescue Financing; Investment; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Condition

12 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 12, 2018

their prior knowledge, whereas knowledge recombination is more likely to be pursued by teams comprising inventors from other ethnic backgrounds. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54569 forthcoming American Economic Review: Insights View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

September 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Case

National Australia Bank: Looking Out for the Customer

By: Mark R. Kramer and Hugh Foley

After learning that most defaults were due to health, job or marital problems, National Australia Bank revised its debt collection department to shift from penalizing people in default to assisting them in developing a work-out plan, enabling more than 90% to meet... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Borrowing and Debt; Customer Focus and Relationships; Success; Australia

October 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Masdar City: Aiming for Sustainable and Profitable Real Estate

By: Boris Vallee and Fares Khrais

Masdar City broke ground in 2008 and was conceived by the Abu Dhabi government to be an international beacon of innovation in sustainable energy and real estate. It was also to be a profitable investment for the government. At first glance, the two goals pulled in... View Details

December 2010
Article

Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

The main arguments in favor of and against nominal and indexed debt are the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model and calibrate these arguments to assess their quantitative importance. We use a dynamic equilibrium... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Motivation and Incentives; Inflation and Deflation; System Shocks; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Framework; Problems and Challenges; Interest Rates; Cost; Developing Countries and Economies; Service Operations

14 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 14

money demand could explain up to approximately half the growth of ABCP in the mid-2000s. Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/money_20140929_6871f5d1-2375-4716-a7c5-8b94d7541b54.pdf Working Papers Government View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2005
Working Paper

Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

The main arguments in favor of and against nominal and indexed debt are the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model and calibrate these arguments to assess their quantitative importance. We use a dynamic equilibrium... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Inflation and Deflation; System Shocks; Developing Countries and Economies; Mathematical Methods