Análise da significância do rating e outras variáveis na remuneração das debêntures brasileiras

This paper has two main aims:  to conduct a survey of the main characteristics of debentures issued by Brazilian companies in the last ten years and check which variables influenced the determination of debenture coupons.  In order to do so, the information of 1,520 debentures issued in Brazil from 2004 to 2013 was analyzed.  The main findings of the exploratory study were that most of the debentures issued offered neither fixed nor floating charges; that the average security maturity was about six years; that almost all of the securities issued are not convertible into shares; and that the main destination for the funds raised was the lengthening of the company´s indebtedness profile. The analysis of the descriptive statistics of the regression model showed that the debentures linked to the Interbank Deposit paid the highest average yearly coupons (11%), presented the worst grades of credit ratings (ratings) and had the lowest average maturity (6.5 years).  The regression model proposed presented better explanatory power for the coupons of the debentures linked to the IGPM, and for these debentures, the maturity and rating explanatory variables presented statistical significance.