Sustainability-linked bonds, corporate commitment and the cost of debt

IF 6.3 2区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Research in International Business and Finance Pub Date : 2025-02-01 DOI:10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102658

Massimo Mariani , Francesco D’Ercole , Domenico Frascati , Giuseppe Fraccalvieri

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Abstract

Sustainability-linked bonds represent one of the newest weapons of choice for firms raising money to reach their sustainability targets. On a sample of 252 corporate sustainability-linked bonds, we employ cross-sectional regressions to inspect the impact of a combination of factors on the cost of debt financing for the issuer, proxied by the yield at issuance. The results unveil that firms with higher step-up clauses in their sustainability-linked bonds do not benefit from reduced debt costs. In contrast, firms exhibit a lower cost of debt when the coupon step-up-related cash flows are paid for a longer period in case of corporate sustainability target failure. On a different note, market actors critically eye the ambitiousness of the targets, with companies experiencing higher yields at issuance when issuing sustainability-linked bonds with outdated sustainability benchmarks and easy-to-reach targets. This study is among the first to underscore the importance of the interplay between financial and qualitative factors in properly designing sustainability-linked bonds with financially material, ambitious, and time-sensitive sustainability targets to reduce the cost of debt financing.

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来源期刊

Research in International Business and Finance BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

11.20

自引率

9.20%

发文量

240

期刊介绍： Research in International Business and Finance (RIBAF) seeks to consolidate its position as a premier scholarly vehicle of academic finance. The Journal publishes high quality, insightful, well-written papers that explore current and new issues in international finance. Papers that foster dialogue, innovation, and intellectual risk-taking in financial studies; as well as shed light on the interaction between finance and broader societal concerns are particularly appreciated. The Journal welcomes submissions that seek to expand the boundaries of academic finance and otherwise challenge the discipline. Papers studying finance using a variety of methodologies; as well as interdisciplinary studies will be considered for publication. Papers that examine topical issues using extensive international data sets are welcome. Single-country studies can also be considered for publication provided that they develop novel methodological and theoretical approaches or fall within the Journal''s priority themes. It is especially important that single-country studies communicate to the reader why the particular chosen country is especially relevant to the issue being investigated. [...] The scope of topics that are most interesting to RIBAF readers include the following: -Financial markets and institutions -Financial practices and sustainability -The impact of national culture on finance -The impact of formal and informal institutions on finance -Privatizations, public financing, and nonprofit issues in finance -Interdisciplinary financial studies -Finance and international development -International financial crises and regulation -Financialization studies -International financial integration and architecture -Behavioral aspects in finance -Consumer finance -Methodologies and conceptualization issues related to finance