THE IMPACT OF SALE-LEASEBACKS TRANSACTIONS ON BONDHOLDER AND SHAREHOLDER WEALTH

Prior research has shown that a sale and leaseback transaction (SLBT) results in positive average abnormal returns to the lessee's common stockholders. Researchers have conjectured that this could be due to SLBT tax benefits or due to a wealth transfer from bondholders (since after the SLBT it is possible that fewer assets remain as collateral). This study shows that bondholders do not lose in SLBT's and confirms previous results showing that stockholders gain from sale leaseback transactions. The results are consistent with the position that bondholders write provisions to protect their rights to the underlying assets, resulting in no wealth transfer from bondholders to stockholders when the firm sells off assets and leases them back.