The role of social capital in private placement: evidence from Rule 144A debt issuances

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of social capital in the issuances of Rule 144A debt. Using a sample of 1,378 debt offerings from 1997 to 2015 in the US, this paper provides empirical evidence on whether and to what extent social capital affects the cost of Rule 144A debt. Design/methodology/approach This paper employs a county-level measure of social capital and links social capital to the yield spreads of Rule 144A debt. A Heckman selection model is sued to address the sample selection bias, and an instrumental variable approach and propensity score matching methodology are implemented to deal with the potential endogeneity issue. The authors check for robustness using an alternative measure of social capital. Findings The results of the analysis provide evidence that issuers headquartered in the counties with higher levels of social capital experience lower yield spreads in their Rule 144A debt offerings. The findings are robust to a Heckman selection model, an instrumental variable approach and propensity score matching. Furthermore, the analysis reveals the marginal effect of social capital that the effect of social capital is more pronounced for the issuing firms with higher agency cost of debt and lower institutional ownership. The effect of social capital is more prominent after financial crisis. Originality/value This paper provides novel evidence of the effect of social capital on the cost of privately placed debt. The issuances of Rule 144A debt are subject to significant information asymmetry and are targeted at sophisticated institutional investors. This paper sheds further light on how institutional investors incorporate the regional social capital in their pricing scheme of private placement of Rule 144A debt.