Publications

July 2009 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Delphi Corp. and the Credit Derivatives Market (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Victoria Ivashina and Sarah Abbott

In 2005, Jane Bauer-Martin, a hedge fund manager, is considering what she should do with the fund's large investment in the publicly traded bonds of Delphi Corp., a financially troubled auto parts supplier. Delphi is General Motor's key auto parts supplier, and, like... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Bonds; Financial Management; Risk Management

03 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Lehman Brothers Plus Five: Have We Learned from Our Mistakes?

short-term debt financing, an attractive source of funding in good times but an accelerant of financial crises when things go bad. And we're getting closer to adopting a "resolution regime" that could enable regulators to wind... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Banking; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

March 2011
Article

Institutional Demand Pressure and the Cost of Corporate Loans

By: Victoria Ivashina and Zheng Sun

Between 2001 and 2007, annual institutional funding in highly leveraged loans went up from $32 billion to $426 billion, accounting for nearly 70% of the jump in total syndicated loan issuance over the same period. Did the inflow of institutional funding in the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Crisis; Credit; Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Investment

SSRN

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June 2009 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Busse Place

By: Arthur I Segel, William J. Poorvu, Richard Kessler, Justin Seth Ginsburgh and Eric Fleiss

Busse Corporate Center's largest tenant recently declared bankruptcy, leaving the building 38% occupied and significantly overleveraged. In a depressed suburban Chicago office market, Hannah Sanchez, the leasing agent, has to negotiate lease proposals with three... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Restructuring; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Mortgages; Investment; Leasing; Property; Real Estate Industry; Chicago

02 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 2

and Finance (forthcoming). (Also Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 05-053 and NBER Working Paper No. 13131.) Abstract The main arguments in favor of and against nominal and indexed debt are the incentive to default through... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2007
Chapter

Behavioral Corporate Finance: A Survey

By: Malcolm Baker, Richard Ruback and Jeffrey Wurgler

Research in behavioral corporate finance takes two distinct approaches. The first emphasizes that investors are less than fully rational. It views managerial financing and investment decisions as rational responses to securities market mispricing. The second approach... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Prejudice and Bias; Debt Securities; Financial Management; Price; Theory; Investment; Problems and Challenges; Behavioral Finance; Corporate Finance

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24 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 24

time series. While loan issuance falls in recessions, it is not clear if this is due to demand or supply. We address this question by studying firms' substitution between bank debt and non-bank debt (public... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Private Equity Finance - Course Catalog

debt management. The interaction between investor and portfolio-company operating executives will be examined from multiple perspectives. Module 4: Realizations This module examines timing of the exit and highlights the critical... View Details

01 Sep 2009
News

From Bytes to Bites

restaurants’ finances and operations. “It’s been extremely stressful since December,” she admits. Debt and loan management, meetings with her seven-person senior management team, profit and loss reports, marketing plans, management... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Food Services and Drinking Places; Hospitality; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

21 Oct 2013
News

Moving the Needle

private debt and equity options. That position took her on a trip to Kenya this summer to search for investment opportunities—including microfinance, sustainable agriculture, clean cook stoves, and urban sanitation—viewing them through a... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

24 Jul 2013
Op-Ed

Detroit Files for Bankruptcy: HBS Faculty Weigh In

of its post-civil war reconstruction. When Liberia emerged from a decade-and-a-half of war, fiscal obligations were several times higher than income. Its new leaders were able to restructure the country's commercial debt (to three cents... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber, Robert C. Pozen, Eric D. Werker & Benjamin Kennedy; Auto

2011
Working Paper

Why Fears about Municipal Credit Are Overblown

Highly publicized predictions of 50-100 municipal defaults have caused anxiety among municipal bond investors. While there is some chance that negative investor sentiment will lead to further spread widening, the probability of the kind of widespread default that would... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Bonds; Investment Return; City

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December 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Flagstar Companies, Inc. (Abridged)

By: Stuart C. Gilson

A large restaurant chain undergoes a leveraged buyout and subsequent recapitalization. Financial and operating problems at the company force it to consider various restructuring options, including a prepackaged Chapter 11 exchange offer to its public bondholders. Two... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Capital; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Debt Securities; Competition; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Teaching Note

Parmalat Uruguay (A) & (B)

By: Paul W. Marshall and Jim Sharpe

This teaching note is for cases Parmalat Urguguay A & B. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Entrepreneurship; Borrowing and Debt; Negotiation; Performance Improvement; Financial Services Industry; Uruguay

05 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 5, 2010

and recovery to be associated with increases in orders from Hugo Boss's retailer customers Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-034.pdf A Comparative-Advantage Approach to Government Debt Maturity Authors:Robin... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 11, 2009

dangerous. Overall, they offer wise suggestions for making CBA more effective, rather than eliminating CBA as a decision-making tool. A Gap-Filling Theory of Corporate Debt Maturity Choice Authors:Robin Greenwood, Samuel Hanson, and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Flagstar Companies, Inc.

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jeremy Cott

A large restaurant chain undergoes a leveraged buyout and subsequent recapitalization. Financial and operating problems at the company force it to consider various restructuring options, including a "prepackaged" Chapter 11 exchange offer to its public bondholders. A... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Capital; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Debt Securities; Financial Services Industry; United States