Do Firms Use Derivatives to Reduce their Dependence on External Capital Markets?

Abstract

This study investigates if the use of derivatives by corporations is likely to affect their financing strategies. I find a strong positive relation between the minimum revenue guaranteed by hedging and investment expenditures. This result implies that hedging increases the likelihood that investments can be financed internally. I also find that firms tend to finance their investment expenditures externally rather than internally. If external capital is more costly than internal capital it would clearly be in a firm's interest to reduce its dependence on external capital. Consistent with this result, I find that the median firm that does not hedge finances 100% of its investment expenditures externally, while the median firm that hedges finances only 86% of investments externally.