The influence of ownership concentration and the board structure on the capital structure Evidence from Dutch listed companies

This paper studies the impact of board size, board independence and ownership concentration on the capital structure of Dutch listed companies. Prior empirical studies show evidence for the presence of those relationships. This study tries to get a better view for this relationship in especially Dutch listed companies. From a multiple regression analysis a significant relationship is found between ownership concentration and the D/E ratio. This relationship corresponds to the fact of active monitoring from external block owners. The same relationship is found in prior empirical studies. However, the results of the relationship with board independence and board size are statistically insignificant, in contrast to prior studies.