Business Failure, Judicial Intervention, and Financial Innovation: Restructuring U.S. Railroads in the Nineteenth Century

A paper describes the problems faced by reorganizers of distressed railroads in the late 19th century and how they were addressed by a combination of judicial intervention and financial innovations. In particular, the judicial innovations of supersenior financing, the equity receivership process, an...

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Main Author: Tufano, P
Format: Journal article
Published: 1997
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author Tufano, P
author_facet Tufano, P
author_sort Tufano, P
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description A paper describes the problems faced by reorganizers of distressed railroads in the late 19th century and how they were addressed by a combination of judicial intervention and financial innovations. In particular, the judicial innovations of supersenior financing, the equity receivership process, and the setting of upset values permitted firms to raise funds. The private financial innovations of deferred coupon debt, contingent charge securities, and voting trusts made subsequent default less likely. The private innovations can be interpreted as responses to both the distress of the railroads as well as the intervention by the courts that emasculated prior debt contracts.
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spelling oxford-uuid:5a5797b4-e187-447b-a228-19ee0cca3eb12022-03-26T17:15:15ZBusiness Failure, Judicial Intervention, and Financial Innovation: Restructuring U.S. Railroads in the Nineteenth CenturyJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:5a5797b4-e187-447b-a228-19ee0cca3eb1Saïd Business School - Eureka1997Tufano, PA paper describes the problems faced by reorganizers of distressed railroads in the late 19th century and how they were addressed by a combination of judicial intervention and financial innovations. In particular, the judicial innovations of supersenior financing, the equity receivership process, and the setting of upset values permitted firms to raise funds. The private financial innovations of deferred coupon debt, contingent charge securities, and voting trusts made subsequent default less likely. The private innovations can be interpreted as responses to both the distress of the railroads as well as the intervention by the courts that emasculated prior debt contracts.
spellingShingle Tufano, P
Business Failure, Judicial Intervention, and Financial Innovation: Restructuring U.S. Railroads in the Nineteenth Century
title Business Failure, Judicial Intervention, and Financial Innovation: Restructuring U.S. Railroads in the Nineteenth Century
title_full Business Failure, Judicial Intervention, and Financial Innovation: Restructuring U.S. Railroads in the Nineteenth Century
title_fullStr Business Failure, Judicial Intervention, and Financial Innovation: Restructuring U.S. Railroads in the Nineteenth Century
title_full_unstemmed Business Failure, Judicial Intervention, and Financial Innovation: Restructuring U.S. Railroads in the Nineteenth Century
title_short Business Failure, Judicial Intervention, and Financial Innovation: Restructuring U.S. Railroads in the Nineteenth Century
title_sort business failure judicial intervention and financial innovation restructuring u s railroads in the nineteenth century
work_keys_str_mv AT tufanop businessfailurejudicialinterventionandfinancialinnovationrestructuringusrailroadsinthenineteenthcentury