Empirical Study On The Factors Of Dynamic Debt Maturity Structure

The modern sense of studies on debt maturity structure began in the1970s, andthen the theory grows up day after day, formatting a series of important theories, such asagency cost theory, asymmetric information theory, tax theory, duration matching theory.When consider these important theories carefully, we found that most of theminvestigate the decision of debt maturity from the demand of corporate finance. Theseresearches have certain practical significance for developed economies, which have themarket with free financing environment, less government intervention and financingrestricts. Compared with foreign developed countries, China still has a huge gap inmacro-control ability, the development of capital market and the adaptability of microeconomic entities. So when make decision and study of debt maturity, we have to thinkabout the difference resulted from these gaps.In addition, with the improvement of opening-up policy in Chinese banking andthe reform in the financial sector deepened, the macroeconomic regulations ofgovernment in the financial sector is getting stronger, which will inevitably affect thesupply of credit funds in capital market. To make matters worse, the debt financing ofChinese corporations mainly comes from banks. Therefore, when make the decision ofdebt maturity structure, enterprises will have to consider the fluctuations of credit fundssupply due to the adjustments of macroeconomic policy.Based on the existing methods and conclusions of debt maturity structure research,to study the factors of debt maturity structure about Chinese listed companies inmanufacturing, this paper considered the micro factors of corporate debt financingneeds and the macro factors of capital supply in capital market comprehensively. Thispaper emphasizes on the relationship between the adjustment of monetary policy andcorporate debt maturity structure changes, and the impact of different ownership，different banks dependence on corporate debt maturity.The analysis revealed that, the decisions of listed companies’ debt maturity inChina support the agency cost theory and debt maturity matching hypothesis. Except thevariables of firm characteristics, such as size, asset maturity, liquidity, quality, leverage,cash flow, growth ability, profitability, monetary policy, banking dependence and thenature of ownership also have significant effects on debt maturity structure. Specifically,monetary policy significantly influenced the debt maturity decisions of listed companies in China. Different ownerships of enterprises are affected by different types of monetarypolicy tools. When the central bank introduces eased monetary policy, like improves therate of money supply growth or increase the total amount of credit in bankinginstitutions, the listed companies generally tend to increase their long-term debtfinancing. But the monetary policy of money supply adjustment can ease the long-termdebt financing needs of both SOE and non-SOE, while the adjustment of bank creditsupply, another monetary policy considered, can only help to meet the needs of SOE. Inaddition, the debt maturities of SOE are significantly higher than non-SOE resultingfrom the special economic system in China. What’s more, the characteristics variables,nature of ownership and monetary policy adjustment also have different effects on thebusinesses of different banks dependence.In order to provide a more favorable circumstances for enterprises to arrangementtheir debt maturity structure reasonable, the government should learn more about theoperation mechanism of capital market and the transmission, impact and effect of theintroduced policy to make judicious use of macro-control. At the same time, thefinancial sector should carry forward the market-based reform in the field of finance,and further relax the controls of interest rate on debt financing, to create a relatively fairenvironment of corporate financing.