The main results found by Kisgen (2006) were that companies in the imminence of a reclassification of the rating, for both the broad rating and micro rating emit fewer debts than those with no imminence of a reclassification.
(2011), using the S&P rating outlook and Credit Watch as proxies for reclassification imminence of rating also sought to analyze the relationship between the imminence of reclassifications of rating and capital structure.
Therefore, the following assumption is adopted as Kisgen (2006): firms in the upper and lower thirds of their respective micro rating will be considered with imminence of a reclassification of rating, and firms in the middle thirds without imminence of a reclassification.
The research hypothesis: The non-financial companies listed in Latin America that are with imminence of a reclassification of the rating (either downgrade or upgrade) use less debts, on average, in relation to their equity, than companies that are without the imminence of a reclassification in the rating.
This hypothesis is based on Kisgen (2006) for those companies, in the imminence of a reclassification of the rating, have greater propensity for reduction in leverage, if compared to companies that are not on the imminence of a reclassification.
After this, it was verified the existence of associations between the imminence of reclassifications of the credit rating and the decisions about capital structure, together with the discussion of these findings in the light of the financial literature.
This means that 366 observations would be with the imminence of a reclassification of rating and 191 would be without the imminence of reclassification.