Market response to corporate loan announcements in New Zealand

Abstract

The benefits of bank financing from screening and monitoring process have been well documented in studies examining the information content of corporate loan announcements. While most of the previous literature is conducted extensively in the US, this thesis proposes to examine the market reaction to corporate loan announcements in the New Zealand context. Standard event study methodology is employed to test the share price returns of the borrowing firms in response to the corporate announcements. Based on the market model, the average two-day announcement period abnormal returns are found to be positively significant for private bank loans, syndicated loans, project loans, new loans and loans to large borrowing firms. In contrast, public loans, loans from one single lender, renewed loans and loans to small borrowing firms do not show any significant announcement effect. The results thus provide evidence that loan announcements do convey information to the New Zealand capital market. The findings are generally consistent with the existing literature, indicating that the conclusions and theories developed from previous studies are robust in the New Zealand setting. It is also found that lender identity partially explains the market response to loan announcements. Finally, there is evidence that the semi-strong form market efficiency hypothesis holds in the New Zealand financial market.