The economic ramifications of corporate financial distress and bankruptcy have recently gained much attention in academic as well as public policy debates. But empirical evidence on how firms encounter and respond to distress has remained sparse and inconclusive.

Philipp Jostarndt analyzes the anatomy of financial distress for a large sample of German corporations. He studies distress-induced changes in ownership and control, success factors in distressed equity infusions, and firms' choice between in- and out-of-court debt restructurings. Moreover, he conducts a survival analysis to examine the determinants of survival, acquisition, and bankruptcy as alternative paths to exit financial distress. He includes both the firm perspective as well as the market valuations of the undertaken restructurings and, where applicable, relates the findings to the microstructure of Germany's revised bankruptcy legislation.

Autorentext
Dr. Philipp Jostarndt war wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter von Prof. Dr. Bernd Rudolph am Institut für Kapitalmarktforschung und Finanzierung der Universität München.

Zusammenfassung
Research on corporate distress and bankruptcy and the accompanying e?orts of ?rms to restructure their operations and balance sheets have become an increasingly important ?eld in ?nancial economics and business administration. Especially in Germany where the recent period of economic downturn and large-scale bankruptcy ?lings coincided with extensivereformsofthebankruptcylegislationthetopichasenjoyedcontroversialdebates among economists, legal scholars and public policy makers. Yet so far insights from empirical research that can provide valuable guidance in these debateshaveremainedsparseandinconclusive. Onereasonforthelackofevidenceisthat common ?nancial theory on corporate restructuring is not fully compatible with the G- man institutional background and thus often allows only ambiguous predictions. Mo- over, empiricalinvestigationsofGermanrestructuringshavesofarbeenalmostimpossible due to the lack of exhaustive data. This holds in particular for private reorganizations, which present the predominant form of restructuring distressed ?rms in Germany. Many economically highly interesting aspects pertain to this ?nal stage in the corporate li- cycle. Forexample,thequestionwhetherthe?rm'smanagement,shareholdersorcreditors should trigger a formal bankruptcy proceeding or, alternatively, pursue a going-concern in an out-of-court workout has a myriad of economic implications.

Inhalt
Data selection and sample descriptives.- Financial distress, corporate control, and management turnover: A German panel analysis.- Of bail-outs and bankruptcies: An empirical study of distressed debt restructurings in Germany.- Claimholder conflicts in distressed equity offerings: Evidence from German restructurings.- A study of firm exit and survival in financial distress.