A quantitative study of how capital structure is affected by intangible assets - The Case of Sweden

Abstract

This thesis examines the effect that intangible assets have on capital structure on the Swedish market, and in doing so contributes to the existing body of research on capital structure and its determinants. The sample consists of 1 065 different firms, from 9 different industries between the period of 2000-2020. We find that intangible assets have a supportive role when it comes to securing debt for all of our proxies for leverage. In addition, we find it hard to find any consistent differences of the association between intangible assets and leverage in different industries. However, we find significant results for the firms active in the industries with the highest sophistication of innovation, indicating that the industries with high levels of innovation will be more likely to use intangible assets in order to secure leverage.