Price and Non‐price Terms of Syndicated Loans to Technology Firms

ABSTRACT This paper examines whether US technology firms receive different price and nonprice terms in the syndicated loan market compared to nontechnology firms. The analysis reveals that technology borrowers face significantly less favorable terms, including 12 basis points higher loan spreads, approximately 5 shorter maturities, and loan sizes reduced by 3 of total assets. Evidence suggests these differences are consistent with being driven by higher information asymmetry, as technology firms benefit more from reductions in opacity than nontechnology peers. The relationship between firm quality and loan maturity appears nonmonotonic, with higher‐quality firms potentially opting for shorter loan terms. The findings are robust to entropy balancing, endogeneity concerns, credit rating subsamples, and omitted variable bias. Overall, the results indicate that technology firms face systematically worse loan terms, with important implications for borrowers, lenders, and market participants amid the sector's growing presence in syndicated lending.