This research examines whether and to what degree does ownership structure affect the capital structure, using a universal sample of Vietnamese listed firms from 2009 to 2015. We consider the ownership structure in two dimensions: ownership concentration and ownership types. Our paper is among the few to deploy the Herfindahl index of all major shareholders, institutional shareholders, and even foreign shareholders as proxies for ownership concentration. The results depict a positive and significant impact of ownership concentration on the overall capital structure of the companies. Further tests indicate that the effect of ownership structure is stronger for short-term debt and bank debt and weaker or even not significant for long-term debt. Despite the fact that the ownership of state, institutional investors, and foreign investors do not significantly affect the capital structure ratio, we find a non-linear relationship between managerial ownership and the structure of overall debt and bank debt.
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