Why Do Firms Pay More for Bank Loans? The Role of Renegotiation

  • Zhuolu Gao*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Firms borrowing from both banks and the corporate bond market pay a substantial premium on bank loans, raising questions about firms’ bargaining power and banks’ competition. In this paper, I show that a large portion of this premium compensates banks for facilitating out-of-court restructurings. I estimate the loan premium and use a 2014 U.S. court ruling, which impeded out-of-court restructurings, as a natural experiment. Following the ruling, affected firms experienced an 80-90 bps reduction in the loan premium, due to reduced restructuring opportunities and a diminished potential to avoid bankruptcy costs. These findings suggest that the renegotiation flexibility provided by banks is a key driver of the loan premium, highlighting the unique value that bank lending offers beyond the capital market.
Original languageEnglish
Publication date2025
Number of pages48
Publication statusPublished - 2025
Event60th Annual Conference of the Western Finance Association. WFA 2025 - Snowbird Resort, Snowbird, United States
Duration: 22 Jun 202525 Jun 2025
Conference number: 60
https://westernfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2025.pdf

Conference

Conference60th Annual Conference of the Western Finance Association. WFA 2025
Number60
LocationSnowbird Resort
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySnowbird
Period22/06/202525/06/2025
Internet address

Keywords

  • Bank loan
  • Corporate bond
  • Loan premium
  • Renegotiation
  • Prepayment risk

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