Ser ISE impacta o WACC e o endividamento?

Background: This article aims to evaluate the impact of adherence to the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) on the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and debt (DE) of Brazilian companies listed on B3 (Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão). Materials and Methods: Data were collected from 332 publicly traded non-financial Brazilian companies, 85 of which belonged to the ISE for at least one year, in the period from 2010 to 2023. A descriptive and quantitative research was developed, based on secondary data, which were subjected to robust OLS regressions using unbalanced panel data. Results: In the analysis of the results, the regression model for WACC showed good explanatory capacity (R² of 57.85%), indicating that sustainable companies tend to have a lower cost of capital, a result in line with the Stakeholder, Signaling and Agency theories, which highlight the reduction in risk perceived by investors and the improvement in corporate governance. The debt model, with high explanatory power (R² of 92.13%), revealed that companies in the ISE have a higher level of debt, a result contrary to the second hypothesis of the study, but consistent with the Trade-Off Theory, suggesting that sustainable companies have greater access to credit because they are seen as less risky. Conclusion: It was found that companies belonging to the ISE have a reduction in their weighted average cost of capital. On the other hand, companies belonging to the ISE have an increase in debt, which can be explained by several theories.