Optimal dividends and bankruptcy procedures: Analysis of the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process

This paper investigates the impact of bankruptcy procedures on optimal dividend barrier policies. We specifically focus on Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code, which allows a firm in default to continue its business for a certain period of time. Our model is based on the surplus of a firm that earns investment income at a constant rate of credit interest when it is in a creditworthy condition. The firm pays a debit interest rate that depends on the deficit level when it is in financial distress. Thus, the surplus follows an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck (OU) process with a negative surplus-dependent mean-reverting rate. Default and liquidation are modeled as distinguishable events by using an excursion time or occupation time framework. This paper demonstrates how the optimal dividend barrier can be obtained by deriving a closed-form solution for the dividend value function. It also characterizes the distributional property and expectation of bankruptcy time subject to the bankruptcy procedure. Our numerical examples show that under an optimal dividend barrier strategy, the bankruptcy procedure may not prolong the expected bankruptcy time in some situations.

► We investigate the impact of bankruptcy procedures on optimal dividend policies.
► We model a firm’s surplus as an OU process with a surplus-dependent mean-reverting rate.
► Default and liquidation are distinguishable events in the model.
► We derive a closed-form solution for the dividend value function.
► We obtain the distributional property of bankruptcy time.