| dc.description.abstract | This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between shareholder wealth and
sustainable loans, which are new instruments to nance ESG-friendly activities in
the context of a growing public consciousness about sustainability. Using
short-term event study methodology, we observe a signi cantly negative market
reaction to sustainable loan issuance announcements from 2017 to 2020,
suggesting that equity investors perceive that the costs of sustainable loan
issuance outweigh any bene ts. The price decline is larger for borrowers after the
market crash caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the decline is smaller
when public attention towards sustainability increases. However, we nd that
buy-and-hold abnormal returns measured against a portfolio of control rms do
not di er signi cantly from zero in an up-to-six-month basis following issuance,
suggesting no signi cant e ect of sustainable loan issuance on shareholder wealth
in the long run.
Keywords: ESG, sustainable lending, sustainable nance, sustainable loans,
shareholder wealth, event study, buy-and-hold abnormal return | en_US |
