Determinants of the Capital Structure of Companies Listed on the Stock Exchanges of Argentina, Brazil and Chile: An Empirical Analysis of the Period from 2007 to 2016

Abstract

The present investigation refers to the determinants of the capital structure, using the technique of multiple regression through Panel Data of open capital companies in the stock exchanges of Argentina, Brazil and Chile, in order to know the behavior of determinants of the capital structure in relation to Trade-Off Theory (TOT) and Pecking Order Theory (POT). The POT offers the existence of a hierarchy in the use of sources of resources, while the TOT considers the existence of a target capital structure that would be pursued by the company. Sixteen accounting variables were used, in which five are dependent (related to indebtedness) and eleven are independent variables (explaining the determinants of the capital structure). It is observed that, with the use of the Panel Data, the determinants that seem to influence in a more accentuated way the levels of debt of the companies are: current liquidity, tangibility, return to shareholders, return of assets, sales growth, asset growth, market-to-book and business risk measured by the volatility of benefits. Suggestions for future research include the use of Panel Data to analyze other factors that may influence indebtedness, mainly taxes and dividends, as well as a deeper analysis of factors that may influence the speed of adjustment towards the supposed objective level.