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Abstract: The financing mode of enterprise groups directly affects the financing effect of enterprise groups. Based on the analysis of the financing characteristics of enterprise groups and the factors affecting the choice of financing mode, under the realistic conditions, the financing mode of enterprise groups in China can be mainly external indirect financing, supplemented by internal financing and direct financing.

China's enterprise groups are special economic organizations arising from the economic system reform. It is a multi-level and multi-legal enterprise group with parent-subsidiary company as the core and many enterprises linked together through property rights ties. In recent years, with the deepening of reform and opening up and the development of socialist market economy, enterprise groups have developed rapidly, but problems in their financial management have also emerged. Strengthening the research on financial management of enterprise groups is an important condition to promote the healthy and normal operation of enterprise groups. This paper discusses the financing mode from one aspect of financial management of enterprise groups.

First, the characteristics of enterprise group financing

The difference between enterprise group financing and individual enterprise financing mainly lies in the following aspects:

First, the connotation of financing has expanded. For general enterprises, internal financing mainly refers to the accumulation of enterprises, while for enterprise groups, internal financing includes internal financing between enterprises within the group, that is, financing between parent companies and subsidiaries and between subsidiaries. There are many ways for enterprises in the group to raise funds with each other, such as holding shares with each other, issuing bonds and short-term commercial credit. Internal fund-raising within the group can give full play to the advantages of internal fund-raising, that is, the financing cost is relatively low and the transaction cost is reduced. However, in the case of poor use of funds and lack of guarantee, it is more likely to cause bad debts.

Second, when using debt financing, the financial leverage effect is more significant. The financial leverage effect is usually measured by the degree of financial leverage, which is calculated as follows: DFL=EBIT/(EBIT-I), which means that the capital profit rate or earnings per share will increase by a multiple of the profit rate before interest and tax (DFL) when the total amount of funds and the debt ratio remain unchanged. The multi-level enterprise structure with equity as the link in the enterprise group makes the financial leverage effect more influential than that of a single enterprise. Because the capital of the parent company has a certain debt capacity, it will generate new debt capacity after investing in subsidiaries to form subsidiary capital, thus expanding the debt capacity of the group capital as a whole. If the profit margin of the enterprise group is high, the enlarged debt capacity will bring more financial leverage income and increase financial risks. When the profit rate of enterprises drops rapidly, it may lead to a chain reaction of group bankruptcy. Therefore, debt financing can be said to be a "double-edged sword" for enterprise groups and must be carefully considered. According to the theory of capital structure, we should determine the reasonable ratio of self-owned capital to debt capital and coordinate the interest relationship between parent and subsidiary companies.

Third, the role of direct financing is enhanced. Judging from whether the financing activities take financial institutions as the media, financing can be divided into direct financing and indirect financing. Theoretically, these two methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. In enterprise groups, they usually coexist and complement each other. The advantage of indirect financing lies in the low cost of funds provided. The development of enterprise groups is closely related to industrial concentration, which needs a lot of venture capital and long-term capital as support, which banks pursuing steady operation and ensuring solvency cannot provide, and can only rely on direct financing in the capital market. Therefore, the capital needed for the external expansion and long-term development of enterprise groups should mainly come from direct financing. For example, some enterprise groups in the United States mainly raise long-term funds from the securities market, 30% of which are obtained through stock financing and 70% through bonds. The funds needed for daily operations can be obtained through indirect financing.

Based on the above characteristics, the financing methods of enterprise groups can be roughly summarized into four types: (1) direct financing is the main one, supplemented by indirect financing. (2) Indirect financing is dominant, supplemented by direct financing. (3) Internal financing is dominant, supplemented by external financing. (4) External financing is dominant, supplemented by internal financing. Patterns (1) and (2) are combined with patterns (3) and (4) respectively, and some mixed patterns can be generated.

Second, the main factors affecting the choice of financing methods for enterprise groups

Different enterprises have different considerations when choosing financing methods. But in general, the main factors affecting the choice of financing methods of enterprise groups are similar:

1. Ability to accumulate internal funds. Enterprises have strong internal accumulation ability and sufficient capital reserves to supplement capital, so the necessity of using external funds will be reduced; If the enterprise's internal accumulation ability is poor, it will be more dependent on external funds. For enterprise groups, the degree of participation in the financial industry and the close relationship between internal members also affect the choice of financing methods. The higher the degree of participation, banks and other financial institutions are in the core position in the enterprise group, and the members of the group have close financial ties besides property rights and personnel. Therefore, from the perspective of reducing costs and external intervention, enterprises will be more inclined to choose internal financing methods. For example, the six major enterprise groups in Japan are all centered on their respective main banks. The relationship between the enterprise group and the main bank is not limited to "borrowing", but also reflected in other aspects such as "holding shares", "issuing corporate bonds", "operating" and "clearing accounts". In general, major banks account for about 37% of total bank loans. When an enterprise wants to issue corporate bonds in the domestic market, the main bank will accept the entrustment of the enterprise to issue bonds, and when the enterprise issues bonds overseas, the main bank will also provide guarantees for the enterprise through its overseas branches and play an important role. However, with the improvement of financial situation, enterprises can rely on self-financing instead of excessive financial support from major banks and other financial institutions. In addition, the main bank also exerts influence and control by sending senior staff to all enterprises in the group to ensure the safety of funds.

2. The stage of economic development. If a country is in the stage of rapid economic development, the demand for funds by enterprises will increase obviously, and the government will force banks to provide a large number of supportive loans to enterprises by strengthening financial means; If a country is in economic maturity and has accumulated enough capital during the period of rapid economic development, enterprises will tend to raise funds in the capital market or rely on their own accumulation. For example, in South Korea, the asset-liability ratio of enterprises was as high as 95% during the economic take-off, but with the slowdown of economic development, enterprises gradually paid attention to internal accumulation, and the asset-liability ratio showed a downward trend. The average asset-liability ratio of enterprises from 1980 to 1990 is 7 1%. This law also applies to enterprise groups.

3. The degree of government participation in the economy. The higher the government's participation in the economy, the more enterprises rely on bank financing. For example, in Germany and Japan, the government not only needs to protect their own industries, but also needs to establish a complete financial system to support the adjustment of industrial structure and control the financial market, so banks play the role of the main investment channel. In addition, the capital market is restrained, and corporate financing is highly dependent on bank loans. However, in countries with direct financing as the main financial system, such as Britain and the United States, the government's participation in the economy is low, and the capital market is highly liberalized due to strict control over banks, which makes the cost of bank loans higher than that of direct financing, so the external financing of enterprises mainly depends on the capital market.

4. Development of capital market. If the capital market faced by enterprises is mature, the possibility of direct financing will increase. On the other hand, if enterprises mainly rely on bank financing, the investment and financing channels will be relatively single. For example, in the United States, the capital market is highly developed and there are many kinds of financial instruments. The dependence of enterprises on bank loans is low, accounting for only about 65,438+07% of the total financing amount. In Germany, Japan and other countries, the banking system has always played a dominant role in enterprise financing, while the contribution of the capital market with stocks as the core to the economy is not significant, and the funds raised by issuing stocks and bonds account for less than 10% of the total financing.

5. Main industry characteristics. Generally speaking, enterprise groups have the characteristics of cross-industry and cross-region, but the characteristics of their main industries determine their overall tendency in choosing financing models. Bank loans are an effective way for groups that focus on traditional industries, because banks can effectively manage enterprises without taking too much risks. On the one hand, industrial development and technological innovation need a lot of venture capital and long-term capital, which banks pursuing steady operation cannot meet; On the other hand, for enterprises in this industry, it is also difficult to reach an agreement on management, so financing from the capital market has more advantages, and they prefer to choose direct financing.

Third, thinking about the realistic choice of financing mode of enterprise groups in China.

Choosing a financing mode suitable for enterprise groups is the key to improve the efficiency of financing management, and the choice of financing mode for enterprise groups in China cannot be separated from its internal and external realistic environment.

From the external environment, China is still a developing country in the stage of economic take-off. The government's intervention in the economy is dominant, forming a basic financing system dominated by government and indirect financing. The capital market is far from mature, and enterprises cannot freely enter the capital market. By the end of 2000, the market value of China's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets only accounted for about 50% of GDP, while in the early 1990s, it was 90% in emerging Asian countries and over 70% in developed countries. This shows that the development of China's securities market is still immature, but it also means that it has great development potential. Although our government has made various efforts to give many preferential policies to enterprise groups from various aspects, such as giving priority to listing, giving priority to trying advanced financing methods, providing preferential financing costs, piloting financial companies, and encouraging enterprise groups to engage in capital management to enhance their capital strength, this cannot fundamentally solve the problem. A large number of institutional obstacles determine that the space for Chinese enterprise groups to choose financing mode is extremely limited.

Thinking about the financing mode of China's enterprise groups comes from

As far as enterprise groups themselves are concerned, the shortage of funds is still an urgent problem for most enterprise groups. Enterprise groups are engaged in diversified operations across industries and regions, and their capital strength is stronger than that of a single enterprise. However, compared with other countries with mature enterprise groups in the world, the capital scale of enterprise groups in China is far less than that in other countries. About half of the group's core enterprises have total assets of less than 50 million yuan. Therefore, to improve the international competitiveness of China enterprise groups, it is necessary to expand the scale of capital and assets of enterprise groups. However, their self-accumulation ability is poor, and they can't rely on after-tax surplus to get the funds they need for self-development. Taking a shipping group as an example, due to the characteristics of its main business (mainly transportation), the investment scale is large and the investment cycle is long, but the return on investment is low. During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, * * * borrowed more than 3 billion yuan from banks. After put into use, the return on investment is only 0.46%, which is not enough to pay the bank interest, let alone provide the necessary funds for the group's development. Moreover, there are still many problems in the fund management of enterprise groups. The relationship between the members of the group has not been completely straightened out. Although there are certain financial connections, such as the principle of "unified loan and unified repayment" for bank loans at present, there is still a lack of a center for centralized management of funds, and the parent company of the group cannot actually play the role of an investment center due to insufficient funds. In addition, 90% of China's financial assets are deposits and loans from banks and other financial institutions. Such abnormal structure is inevitably reflected in the asset-liability structure of enterprises, which makes the source of funds of enterprises mainly rely on loans from financial institutions such as banks. The average asset-liability ratio of enterprises in China is 83%, and the heavy burden of principal and interest greatly offsets the due effect of scientific financing.

According to the above-mentioned factors affecting the financing mode, combined with China's actual national conditions and the actual capital situation of enterprise groups, enterprise groups should choose the financing mode of external indirect financing, supplemented by internal financing and direct financing. At the same time, we should also pay attention to the following:

First, enterprise groups should fully tap the potential of internal financing when choosing financing methods. Because the overall economic benefit of most enterprise groups is not high, it is difficult to obtain the required funds through self-accumulation in a short time. Due to the influence of industries, regions and other factors, the development of enterprises within the group is unbalanced, which provides the possibility for mutual financing among member enterprises. The basic completion of the shareholding system reform has created an institutional basis for internal share issuance. Therefore, the focus of internal financing can be placed on mutual financing among member enterprises and employee stock ownership within enterprises. There are two best ways for member enterprises to finance each other. One is to set up a group bank or financial company as an intermediary to carry out capital business and realize the reasonable flow of funds within the group; Second, subsidiaries hold shares with each other, and advantageous enterprises inject funds into enterprises lacking funds, forming a relatively stable capital structure and cooperative relations between subsidiaries. For internal employee stock ownership, it has the advantages of low financing cost, simple operation and small financial risk, and it will also have a positive impact on the company's decision-making body. It is an ideal financing method for qualified enterprise groups. In addition, actively introduce financial capital into the group, advocate financial institutions to participate in enterprises within the group, carry out capital business, and realize the combination of production, finance and capital.

Second, although from the perspective of theoretical analysis, bank loans are the most important external financing method for most enterprise groups, which is determined by China's unique financial system. However, when the bank's trust in the enterprise group declines with the decline of the group's solvency, there is not much room for banks to provide further loans. Enterprise groups can mainly use bank loans to raise liquidity. When lending money abroad, the parent company and its subsidiaries should coordinate their interests. The traditional method of "unified loan and unified repayment" not only easily leads to the loan default of subsidiaries, but also increases the financial risk of the parent company due to contingent liabilities. Moreover, the phenomenon that companies in the group provide guarantees to each other makes it difficult for banks to evaluate the actual debt capacity of companies in the group, thus affecting the security of bank loans. Switching to "separate loan and repayment", that is, the subsidiary decides the loan and repayment independently, can not only overcome the disadvantages of "unified loan and repayment", but also restore all the rights and obligations of the subsidiary as an independent legal person. However, the implementation of this plan should pay attention not to go from one extreme to the other, from "unification is too dead" to "separation" at once, and moderate capital connection can enable the parent company to maintain its control and influence over its subsidiaries. This requires three measures:

(1) The subsidiary's loan to the bank is independent, but major loan projects must be approved by the parent company, which is decided when making the annual budget of the subsidiary.

(2) The loan guarantee provided by the parent company to its subsidiaries should be selective, which can guarantee high-quality services that are beneficial to the whole group. Mutual guarantees provided by subsidiaries should be reported to the parent company for approval to avoid excessive debts of the whole group.

(3) The debt level of each company and group as a whole should be analyzed in time, and the capital structure should be actively adjusted. With the development of China's capital market, it will become more and more important to raise funds through the capital market. The capital needed for the long-term development of enterprise groups should mainly come from direct financing. Therefore, enterprise groups should also pay attention to raising funds by issuing stocks, bonds and convertible bonds, and actively create conditions for this. For example, we can concentrate superior assets in enterprise groups, set up new listed companies, and issue stocks or bonds to the outside world. In addition, actively expand overseas financing channels and appropriately adopt international advanced financing methods.

Thirdly, it needs to be emphasized that enterprise groups should also strengthen their awareness of capital structure when choosing financing models. For enterprise groups, the goal of financing can not be limited to whether the amount of financing meets the needs, but should be based on the long-term, considering whether the capital structure formed by the funds raised within the enterprise is optimized. On the one hand, this can effectively avoid excessive debt and avoid financial risks; On the other hand, it can also maximize the value of enterprises and achieve financial goals. For a single enterprise, the above viewpoint is not difficult to be accepted, which is of great significance to enterprise groups. There are many cases in which a large amount of financing but improper capital structure arrangement leads to the collapse or even bankruptcy of the financial mechanism of enterprise groups. The most typical example is Daewoo Group in South Korea. Because they are obsessed with unlimited expansion, the parent company and subsidiaries repeatedly apply for loans with the same assets as collateral, regardless of whether the capital structure is reasonable or not. In the event of a financial crisis, seemingly powerful groups are equally vulnerable. Therefore, in the fund-raising management of enterprise groups, we should constantly strengthen the awareness of capital structure. According to modern capital structure theory, enterprises have an optimal capital structure. In the best advantage of capital structure, the weighted average cost of capital of enterprises is the lowest, while the value of enterprises is the highest. The most important thing for enterprise groups to choose financing methods is to determine a reasonable ratio of debt capital to equity capital according to their own financing objectives and income cost constraints, so as to maximize the market value of enterprise groups. On this basis, choose the appropriate financing method according to the specific situation. It is generally believed that the asset-liability ratio of Chinese enterprises is reasonable between 45% and 60%, and enterprise groups can appropriately increase this ratio, but they should also pay attention to the correspondingly enlarged financial risks.

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