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This paper examines and compares the dividend policies of American depository receipt (ADR) firms and U.S. firms and identifies the factors that determine these policies for both types of companies. We find that ADR firms have higher dividend yields than U.S. firms, while U.S. firms have higher stock repurchase ratios than ADR firms. Results from univariate comparisons and multivariate analysis show that the determining factors of dividend payout and stock repurchases differ between these two types of firms. This finding holds for the robustness check conducted in this study. This paper provides further evidence regarding dividend policies of ADR firms and sheds light on the differences in dividend policies between non-US firm and U.S. firms.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to model the components of credit risk in primary debt markets and evaluate changes in these factors in times of crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a unique dataset consisting of nearly 163,000 new loans and bond issues in the USA and internationally during the period January 1992 through December 2005.FindingsThe authors find that credit spreads are related to market liquidity, best represented by total proceeds, ratings and the interaction between maturity and rating. The authors control for various crisis periods, including regional financial crises and find that spreads generally increased in response to the Asian Crisis with the international markets exhibiting the larger increases. There is mixed evidence of asymmetric effects of shocks. In the US loan markets, the adjustment factor reduces forecast variance (Θ1<0). In contrast, the adjustment factor is not significant for US bonds, possibly indicating a more rapid adjustment and greater efficiency in this market. The opposite effect is seen in the international loan and bond markets with Θ1>0, indicating a persistent increase in spread volatility.Originality/valueThe paper extends our understanding of the components of primary credit spreads and the interactions between primary debt markets during crisis periods.

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