Dodging bullets : changing U.S. corporate capital structure in the 1980s and 1990s / Robert N. McCauley, Judith S. Ruud, and Frank Iacono.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCauley, Robert N. (Robert Neil), 1953-

Contributor:

Ruud, Judith S.

Iacono, Frank.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Leveraged buyouts--United States--History--20th century.

Leveraged buyouts.

Consolidation and merger of corporations--United States--History--20th century.

Consolidation and merger of corporations.

Corporations--United States--Finance--History--20th century.

Corporations.

Finance.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

x, 415 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge Mass. : MIT Press, [1999]

Summary:

The late 1980s saw a huge wave of corporate leveraging. The U.S. financial landscape was dominated by a series of high-stakes leveraged buyouts as firms replaced their equity with new fixed debt obligations. Cash-financed acquisitions and defensive share repurchases also decapitalized corporations. This trend culminated in the sensational debt-financed bidding for RJR-Nabisco, the largest leveraged buyout of all time, before dramatically reversing itself in the early 1990s with a rapid return to equity.

This entertaining summary of the broad reshaping of U.S. corporate finance in the last decade and a half looks at three major issues: why corporations leveraged up in the first place, why and how the leverage wave came to an end, and what policy lessons are to be drawn.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [349]-392) and index.

ISBN:

0262133512

OCLC:

40981120