In our paper, Equity-Holding Institutional Lenders: Do They Receive Better Terms?, which was recently made publicly available on SSRN, we evaluate the way in which institutional equity holders are involved in the lending process. Participation by equity-holding institutions has become a major part of the syndicated loan market. In our sample of 11,137 institutional “leveraged” loan tranches between 1997 and 2007 from the DealScan database, 2,008 (18%) have participation by a “dual holder” institution that owns at least 0.1% of the borrowing firm’s equity. Lending to firms in which one has an equity position goes against the principle of diversification, since it exposes the investor to firm-specific shocks through both its equity and debt ownership. To justify dual holding, the investor must receive compensation of some sort, either through the improvements in the value of its equity holdings, or by above market rates of return on the loan.

We estimate the abnormal return a dual holder receives by comparing spreads on dual holder tranches to those on observationally equivalent tranches that do not have a dual holder. Our estimates indicate, holding all else equal, that loan tranches with dual holder participation receive a 13 basis-point higher spread than otherwise similar tranches without an equity holder’s participation in the lending syndicate. The positive spread is statistically and economically significant for revolvers as well as term loans and for loans to borrowers of different ratings and to unrated borrowers as well.

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