Rev Fin 2000; 13:1017-1055
© 2000 the Society for Financial Studies
Article |
The private placement of debt and outside equity as an information revelation mechanism
1 London Business School, Sussex Place, Regent's Park, London NW1 4SA, UK
2 George Mason University School of Law
z Corresponding author
E-mail: mhabib@lbs.ac.uk
Abstract
We view debt and outside equity as serving to elicit credible information from different specialists about the value of an enterprise in its various uses. The equity valuation specialist provides a price forecast for equity that reveals information about the value of the enterprise in its primary use. The debt valuation specialist provides a price forecast for debt that reveals information about the value of the enterprise in its alternative use. The prices forecast by the valuation specialists credibly reveal their private information because they are required to buy the associated claims at the forecast prices, thereby bonding their valuations.