Key determinants of bond issue terms on the Catalyst bond market in 2009–2019

The first objective of the article was to determine what makes Polish companies decide to issue bonds (instead of financing themselves with loans or other sources). The second objective was to examine the key factors determining the interest rate of bonds. The research was based on public bonds, listed on the Polish Catalyst bond market. It should be emphasised that this is the first study of this kind on the Polish bond market covering both the issue characteristics and the financial attributes of the issuers. Firstly, in order to determine which parameters have a real impact on Polish companies’ issuance decisions, a probit model was created basing on parameters such as the age of the company, its size, asset growth dynamics, leverage, ROA, and investments in fixed assets. Secondly, in order to determine what the real interest rate of the bonds depends on, using linear regression and the least squares method, we examined the key parameters that issuers could consider as leading in determining the future estimated interest rate of the bonds, such as rating, issue collateral, issue size, and maturity. In our research we found that the size of a company and the level of its financial leverage are the main incentives for Polish companies to issue bonds. Moreover, the size of the issuer and the level of its financial leverage are the key factors determining the bonds margin.