This article surveys the corporate finance literature in Brazil emphasizing the capital structure decision, ownership and control issues, securities offerings, and corporate governance. Control in Brazil is concentrated, but firm value increases under the absence of indirect control structures and with greater cash flow rights with controlling shareholders. Corporate boards are largely dominated by directors associated with controlling shareholders while minority shareholders tend not to use mechanisms that could allow them to increase their board representation. The lack of long term financing affects a wide range of firms. They usually prefer to finance with retained earnings first, then with debt and lastly with external equity. The disadvantages to go public seem to be greater than the advantages as public offers are becoming rare, the costs of going public are high, and issuance is timed to periods of market euphoria. Equity value is positively related to dividend payments and stock repurchases but the influence of taxation on dividend policy is not clear.
Corporate finance; Brazil; capital structure; corporate governance; going public; dividend policy