선박 세일앤리스백 수익률 결정요인에 관한 연구

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants of the rate of returns on ship sale-and-leaseback (SLB) transactions. Since 1990s, there has been an unfolding phenomenon that shipping companies try to diversify the funding sources, a gradual shift from the heavy dependence on debt financing from banks. Amid the credit crunch when the vast majority of shipping banks withdrew or reduced their exposure to the shipping industry after the financial turmoil of 2008, a growing deal of attention has been paid to other emerging funding sources such as private equity, leasing and financing from state-backed institutions, to name a few. Among the potential financing vehicles, this study pays particular attention to the SLB, a special type of alternative financing in which a ship is sold and leased back to the previous owner. Considering the cash flows from the transaction, an SLB is equivalent to asset-backed lending. In this regard, this study examines what factors affect the rate of return on an SLB. To this end, a dataset of 62 SLB transactions commenced during 2017-2022 is collected and analyzed. Empirical analysis reports that the returns on SLB are, by and large, negatively associated with profitability and time-charter policy. The findings in this study offer valuable implications for the cost of capital, credit risk determinants and financing structure of shipping companies.