Effects of Controlling Shareholders Agency on Debt Financing Agency Costs: Analysis based on Real Options

By incorporating the factor of controlling shareholders into real options models, the effect of controlling shareholders on the agency costs of debt financing is analyzed synthetically. The result shows that the occurrence of controlling shareholders increases the information asymmetry between creditors and shareholders and induces more early investment. With the increase of cash flow of controlling shareholders, the agency costs of debt financing decreases, which testifies the “incentive effects” of controlling shareholders. With the increase of separation of cash flow rights and control rights, asset substitution problem becomes severe and the agency costs of debt financing increase, which testifies the “entrenchment effects” of controlling shareholders.