Determinants of corporate debt maturity: Evidence from the consumer goods sector in Vietnam

Abstract

Debt maturity structure plays an important role in enterprises’ capital structure policies, and debt maturity varies from industry to industry. The paper investigates the determinants that affect the debt maturity structure of listed firms in the consumer goods industry from 2009 to 2019. The data is collected from consumer goods companies listed on the Vietnam Stock Exchange. The feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) estimation is demonstrated to consider not only micro but also macroeconomic variables that have influenced the corporate debt maturity policy. The empirical results show that five microeconomic factors, such as capital structure, asset structure, asset liquidity, profitability, and firm size, have influenced the debt maturity and are statistically significant. Meanwhile, macroeconomic factors such as inflation rate and credit growth have significantly affected the corporate debt maturity. Finally, the paper provides some suggestions for financial managers on the optimal corporate debt maturity in the consumer goods sector and recommendations for policy-makers when implementing macroeconomic policies.