• Door studenten

• Economie & Bedrijven,
• Duurzaamheid

MSc thesis: The impact of ESG sustainability scores on the firms access to bank loans

This thesis investigates the impact of ESG performance score of the companies in their ability to access
loans from banks. The data used in this analysis is based on 4828 deals lent to 1645 US companies
during the period of 2006-2016. For the accuracy of the results, the data was separated into the strength
and concern factors based on each variable. They indicate whether the company has reported positive
or negative performance for each E, S and G factors respectively. The extended regression analysis of
the paper concludes that banks are more likely to give larger loans to the companies with higher strength
scores, rather than those with lower strength scores. Furthermore, in terms of interest spreads charged
on the loans, it was revealed that the bad performing companies in terms of social concern scores are
more likely to be charged higher prices on their debts. For E and G factors a weak evidence of this
relationship was found as well.

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