Publications

2011
Working Paper

Fiduciary Duties and Equity-Debtholder Conflicts

By: Bo Becker and Per Stromberg

We use an important legal event as a natural experiment to examine the effect of management fiduciary duties on equity-debt conflicts. A 1991 Delaware bankruptcy ruling changed the nature of corporate directors' fiduciary duties in firms incorporated in that state.... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Laws and Statutes; Conflict and Resolution; Welfare or Wellbeing; Delaware

March 2024
Supplement

ELCA's Series A Cap Table Exercise (Student Version)

By: Raymond Kluender, Anke Becker and Johnson Elugbadebo

In ELCA, the company must decide between two term sheets: one put forth by STV and one put forth by ESV.

This exercise is an analysis of the implications of these two term sheets on the ownership structure and the payouts of common and preferred... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Venture Capital; Investment; Ownership Stake

Web

Advisory Board - Entrepreneurship

received an appointment by Harvard Business School as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and was named as one of Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. Ms. Beck was Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005. Prior to... View Details

Working Paper

Covenant-Light Contracts and Creditor Coordination

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

In 2015, 70% of newly issued leveraged loans had weaker enforcement features, called covenant-light or "cov-lite"; this is nearly a three-time increase in cov-lite issuance compared to a previous peak in 2007. We evaluate whether this development can be attributed to... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cycles; Loan Contracts; Debt Covenants; Contracts; Financing and Loans; Credit; Borrowing and Debt

SSRN

Web

Winners & Runners-Up | New Venture Competition

Enterprise Track, 2024 New Venture Competition video Play Video duration: 1:32 2024 New Venture Competition Runner-Up, Social Enterprise Track: Trans Health HQ Trans Health HQ is a tool built by the trans community that addresses... View Details

Article

Reputation When Threats and Transfers Are Available

By: Ernesto Dal Bo, Pedro Dal Bo and Rafael Di Tella

We present a model where a long-run player is allowed to use both money transfers and threats to influence the decisions of a sequence of short-run players. We show that threats might be used credibly (even in arbitrarily short repeated games) by a long-lived player... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Decision Choices and Conditions; Game Theory; Mathematical Methods; Interests; Power and Influence; Reputation

Find at Harvard

05 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 5, 2010

Affect Credit Ratings? Authors:Bo Becker and Todd Milbourn Abstract The credit rating industry has historically been dominated by just two agencies, Moody's and S&P, leading to longstanding legislative... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2014
Article

Representative Evidence on Lying Costs

By: Johannes Abeler, Anke Becker and Armin Falk

A central assumption in economics is that people misreport their private information if this is to their material benefit. Several recent models depart from this assumption and posit that some people do not lie or at least do not lie maximally. These models invoke many... View Details

Keywords: Private Information; Lying Costs; Tax Morale; Representative Experiment; Information; Microeconomics; Taxation; Behavior

Web

Finance Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Jane Li, and Ioana Neamtu. 2024 Elisabeth Kempf : Winner of the 2024 Second Place Jensen Prize for the best paper published by the Journal of Financial Economics in the Areas of Corporate Finance and Organizations for "Political Ideology... View Details

Web

Research - Race, Gender & Equity

Francophone Africa By: Paul A. Gompers , Pippa Tubman Armerding and Temitayo Lawal Djoli, a procurement platform, was one of the startups launched and supported by MStudio, a startup studio in Côte d'Ivoire, in 2023. After a year of... View Details

11 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 11

they made by history, or do they make it? In Indispensable, Harvard Business School professor Gautam Mukunda offers an enticingly fresh look at how and when individual leaders really can make a difference. View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 22

in the magnitude and sign of bond risk premia. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-095.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsIdentifying Firm Capital Structure Bo Becker Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 1

Credit Supply: Firm Level Evidence By: Ivashina, Victoria, and Bo Becker Abstract—Theory predicts that there is a close link between bank credit supply and the evolution of the business cycle. Yet... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2012 (Revised October 2013)
Supplement

A New Financial Policy at Swedish Match (CW)

By: Bo Becker

Keywords: Finance; Policy; Sweden

Web

2022 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

technologies being explored by governments and the private companies that engage them, as well as the potential political, social and commercial implications of these new partnerships. Pathbreakers: The Next Generation of HBS Faculty... View Details

April 2011
Supplement

Roche's Acquisition of Genentech (CW)

By: Bo Becker

Spreadsheet for case 210040. View Details

Keywords: Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry

August 2012 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Preem (A)

By: Bo Becker, Annelena Lobb and Aldo Sesia

High yield bond fund Proventus Capital Partners (PCP) has invested in underwater bonds issued by Preem, a large oil refinery. As maturity approaches, in the midst of financial crisis, Preem appear unlikely to be able to refinance. Meanwhile, Prreem has a complicated... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Restructuring; Courts and Trials; Negotiation; Bonds; Mining Industry; Energy Industry; Europe

Educators

November 2011 (Revised November 2012)
Case

L'Occitane en Provence

By: Bo Becker, Daniela Beyersdorfer, Scott Mayfield and Mayuka Yamazaki

Cosmetics company L'Occitane en Provence must decide if it is the right time to go public, and, if so, where to list. The firm could list on Euronext in Paris, close to the firm's headquarters in southern France, on one of the large exchanges in the U.S., or perhaps in... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; France

Educators