Legal-System Arbitrage and Parent–Subsidiary Capital Structures

This paper develops a new theory of the capital structure of parent–subsidiary organizations based on legal-systemarbitrage: The capital structure of parent–subsidiary organizations is chosen to minimize the agency costs generatedby selective renegotiation of claims written on the component legal entities. We show that optimal mixes of parent–subsidiary level financing minimize the default premia associated with the organization’s overall financing package byequating the marginal enforceability of debt contracts written at the parent and subsidiary level. The enforceabilityof creditor claims depends not only on the legal regime but also on the size of the debt claims and the liquidationvalue of the firm’s assets. Small claims written under a weak creditor rights regime may be more enforceable thanlarge claims written under a regime with strong creditor protection. Thus, all optimal mixes involve some borrowingat the subsidiary level even if the subsidiary legal regime features weaker creditor protection than the parent regime.However, the mix between parent and subsidiary financing tilts toward the regime that features stronger creditorprotection