The role of covenants in bond issue and investment policy: The case of Russian companies

This study examines the use and determinants of covenants in public debt issued by Russian companies. On the basis of issue characteristics, firm characteristics and systemic risk variables, we investigate that the likelihood of including covenants clause in financial contracts is positively related to the riskiness of bond issues. Us- ing a hand-collected database of Russian firms that place bonds both in domestic and Eurobond market, we provide evidence that the covenant protection in Euro- bond market has a positive impact for those firms that issue in Russian market, with a reduction in covenant intensity. We document that a negative relation be- tween offering yield and the presence of covenants which is consistent with the costly contracting hypothesis (CCH) is registered only in Eurobond market. We al- so find a non linear relation between investment and covenant protection for the firm that issue in Russian market, indicating a possible optimal covenant protec- tion for a bond issue.