Empirical test of the relationship between debt leverage and ownership structure on Iranian firms

Abstract

Corporate governance is generally seen to strengthen shareholders rights and increasing their wealth. This research focuses on an important issue, which has generally received less attention in corporate governance literature, being the effect of debt leverage on ownership structure and also the effect of firm size and profitability on this relationship. By employing a sample of Iranian listed firms, in Tehran Stock Exchange during the period 2006 to 2012 (a period of seven years), the generalized least squares method, as a panel data technique, is used to examine effect of debt leverage on ownership structure by mediating firm size and profitability. The results reveal that debt leverage is negatively related to ownership structure and also firm size moderates the relationship between debt leverage and ownership structure. It is controlled by the ratio of tangible assets.