Summary measures of the relative offering costs of the different types of
completed security offerings are presented in rows 5 and 6 of table 3. Total
offering costs include the underwriting spread as well as other expenses
incurred by the firm. These costs are reported in the offering prospectus. The
median total costs, as a proportion of the dollar amount of the issue, range
from 0.055 for common stock to 0.010 for straight debt. The hypothesis that
the mean total costs relative to issue size are equal for the common stock and
straight debt samples is rejected at the 0.01 level. The median offering costs
measured relative to the market value of common stock range from 0.006 for
common stock to 0.001 for straight debt. Offering costs, therefore, can explain
only a small negative stock price reaction to announcements of security
offerings.
The last row of table 3 reports the length of the interval between the
announcement of the offering and the issuance. The median length of this
interval is 18 trading days for common stock and preferred stock offerings and
is 13 trading days for straight debt and convertible debt offerings. This period
is of interest in our analysis of the stock price effects of completed security
offerings, since in this interval much of the underwriters’ selling effort takes
place and uncertainty about the offering is resolved.
Information on private borrowing arrangements was collected from reports
in The Wall Street Journal. The median size of private placements is $25.0
million, much smaller than the comparable figure for public offerings of debt.
However, the median size of private placements relative to the market value of
common stock is 0.266, similar to public offerings. Thus, firms that privately
place debt tend to be smaller than issuers of public debt. The median dollar
amount of term loans is $15.0 million. The median amount of the revolving
credit and line of credit agreements is $42.5 million.
Private borrowing arrangements also can be compared to public debt
offerings on the basis of the maturity of the debt, or the duration of the loan or
credit agreement. Public debt offerings tend to have longer maturities than
private borrowing arrangements. For example, 54% of public debt offerings
have maturities greater than or equal to 20 years. In comparison, 38.5% of
private placements, 12% of term loans and 5% of credit agreements last longer
than twenty years. Only 17% of public debt offerings have maturities less than
or equal to ten years. This can be compared to 8% of private placements, 44%
of term loans and 92% of credit agreements that are less than ten years in
maturity or length.