Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) historically represent the backbone of the Italian economy; however, they have always faced significant hurdles in accessing external funding, especially compared to larger firms. The aftermath of the 2008 Great Financial Crisis and the subsequent Sovereign Debt Crisis further heightened this challenge, highlighting the SMEs’ heavy reliance on traditional bank financing. To address this issue, the Italian government introduced innovative financing solutions like minibonds, providing SMEs with alternative avenues for funding. Additionally, public guarantees are another instrument playing a vital role in incentivizing lenders to extend credit to SMEs by mitigating their risk. Among the various types of public guarantees used in the Italian minibond market, one of the primary ones is provided by the Central Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises managed by Mediocredito Centrale. The objective of this dissertation is to examine the presence of a significant effect on the cost of debt for an issuing company stemming from both the issuance of a minibond and the presence of the Central Guarantee Fund guarantee on the issuance itself. To accomplish this, a treatment sample comprising 107 issuances conducted between 2016 and 2020 has been utilized. Starting from this, a control sample has been meticulously crafted using Propensity Score Matching, in order to obtain a group of non-issuing companies as similar as possible to those within the treatment sample. Once established the control sample, the effects of both treatments on the cost of debt have been examined two years after the minibond issuance through a Difference in Differences model. The results have not revealed the presence of a significant effect on the debt cost of firms two years after the emission, neither regarding the minibond issuance nor concerning the utilization of the CGF guarantee in the issuance. However, although this was not the primary focus of this dissertation, an analysis of covariates with a more significant impact on the cost of debt in the final regression has also been conducted. Among all, Total Assets has emerged as the most significant variable; furthermore, although with a p-value just above the significance threshold, both Quick Ratio and Working Capital have also exhibited a noteworthy impact on the cost of debt. All the three variables have been associated with a negative coefficient in the final regression, indicating that as each of them increases, the average cost of debt of a company decreases.
Le Piccole e Medie Imprese (PMI) rappresentano storicamente la spina dorsale dell’economia italiana; nonostante ciò, esse hanno sempre affrontato significative difficoltà nell’accesso ai finanziamenti esterni, soprattutto rispetto alle imprese più grandi. Le conseguenze della Grande Crisi Finanziaria del 2008 e della successiva Crisi del Debito Sovrano hanno ulteriormente accentuato questo aspetto, evidenziando la forte dipendenza delle PMI dal finanziamento bancario tradizionale. Per affrontare questo problema, il governo italiano ha introdotto soluzioni innovative di finanziamento come i Minibond, fornendo alle PMI canali di finanziamento alternativi. Inoltre, le garanzie pubbliche rappresentano un altro strumento fondamentale nell’incentivare i finanziatori a concedere credito alle PMI, mitigando il loro rischio. Tra le varie tipologie di garanzie pubbliche utilizzate nel mercato dei minibond italiano, una delle principali è quella fornita dal Fondo Centrale di Garanzia per le Piccole e Medie Imprese gestito da Mediocredito Centrale. L’obiettivo di questa tesi è esaminare la presenza di un effetto significativo sul costo del debito per un’azienda emittente derivante sia dall'emissione di un minibond sia dalla presenza della garanzia del Fondo Centrale di Garanzia sull'emissione stessa. Per fare ciò, è stato utilizzato un campione di trattamento composto da 107 emissioni effettuate tra il 2016 e il 2020. A partire da questo, è stato creato un campione di controllo tramite il Propensity Score Matching, al fine di ottenere un gruppo di aziende non emittenti il più simile possibile a quelle del campione di trattamento. Una volta ottenuto il campione di controllo, gli effetti di entrambi i trattamenti sul costo del debito sono stati esaminati due anni dopo l’emissione attraverso un modello Difference in Differences. I risultati non hanno evidenziato la presenza di un effetto significativo sul costo del debito delle imprese due anni dopo l’emissione, né per quanto riguarda l’emissione di minibond né per quanto riguarda l’utilizzo della garanzia del Fondo Centrale di Garanzia nell’emissione stessa. Tuttavia, sebbene questo non fosse l’obiettivo principale di questa tesi, è stata condotta anche un’analisi delle covariate con un impatto più significativo sul costo del debito nella regressione finale. Tra tutte, Total Assets è emersa come la variabile più significativa; inoltre, anche se con un p-value appena sopra la soglia di significatività, sia Quick Ratio che Working Capital hanno mostrato un impatto degno di nota sul costo del debito. Tutte e tre le variabili sono state associate a un coefficiente negativo nella regressione finale, indicando una diminuzione del costo medio del debito di un’azienda all’aumentare di ognuna di esse.
Public guarantees and minibonds: the impact on the cost of debt capital for SMEs
Bossio, Francesco;Baffoni, Edoardo
2022/2023
Abstract
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) historically represent the backbone of the Italian economy; however, they have always faced significant hurdles in accessing external funding, especially compared to larger firms. The aftermath of the 2008 Great Financial Crisis and the subsequent Sovereign Debt Crisis further heightened this challenge, highlighting the SMEs’ heavy reliance on traditional bank financing. To address this issue, the Italian government introduced innovative financing solutions like minibonds, providing SMEs with alternative avenues for funding. Additionally, public guarantees are another instrument playing a vital role in incentivizing lenders to extend credit to SMEs by mitigating their risk. Among the various types of public guarantees used in the Italian minibond market, one of the primary ones is provided by the Central Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises managed by Mediocredito Centrale. The objective of this dissertation is to examine the presence of a significant effect on the cost of debt for an issuing company stemming from both the issuance of a minibond and the presence of the Central Guarantee Fund guarantee on the issuance itself. To accomplish this, a treatment sample comprising 107 issuances conducted between 2016 and 2020 has been utilized. Starting from this, a control sample has been meticulously crafted using Propensity Score Matching, in order to obtain a group of non-issuing companies as similar as possible to those within the treatment sample. Once established the control sample, the effects of both treatments on the cost of debt have been examined two years after the minibond issuance through a Difference in Differences model. The results have not revealed the presence of a significant effect on the debt cost of firms two years after the emission, neither regarding the minibond issuance nor concerning the utilization of the CGF guarantee in the issuance. However, although this was not the primary focus of this dissertation, an analysis of covariates with a more significant impact on the cost of debt in the final regression has also been conducted. Among all, Total Assets has emerged as the most significant variable; furthermore, although with a p-value just above the significance threshold, both Quick Ratio and Working Capital have also exhibited a noteworthy impact on the cost of debt. All the three variables have been associated with a negative coefficient in the final regression, indicating that as each of them increases, the average cost of debt of a company decreases.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/217414