ABSTRACT

This study informs the largely neglected literature on the probability of corporate bond issuance in African emerging markets by determining which firm-level variables – size, risk, profitability, tangibility of assets, leverage, growth opportunities, and age – influence private-sector firms’ decision to issue bonds in the primary market. Using data for 49 non-financial firms – 32 bond issuers and 17 non-issuers – between January 2009 and December 2014, the pooled fractional probit regression technique is adopted with the Bernoulli quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (BQMLE) to identify risk, leverage, size, and age as the most important. The study further contributes to the literature by its finding that differences exist between corporate bond issuing and non-issuing firms in Africa. It recommends the need to foster the debt credit culture for the development of local debt markets on the continent.

摘要

本研究通过确定哪些公司层面的变量——规模、风险、盈利能力、资产的有形性、杠杆、增长机会和年龄——影响私营部门公司决定在一级市场发行债券。使用 2009 年 1 月至 2014 年 12 月期间 49 家非金融公司（32 家债券发行人和 17 家非发行人）的数据，采用合并分数概率回归技术和伯努利准最大似然估计 (BQMLE) 来识别风险、杠杆、大小和年龄最重要。该研究通过发现非洲公司债券发行公司和非发行公司之间存在差异，进一步为文献做出了贡献。