Sources of Corporate Financing in Austria

The external financing of Austrian non-financial enterprises is mainly based on equity and loans. This study extends the financial accounts with an estimate of the scope of subsidised and alternative forms of finance, thus for the first time allowing for a better assessment of their significance in corporate finance. Around 2.4 billion € or 0.3 percent of the balance sheet total is provided by subsidised loans and crowd lending (debt capital). Business angels, crowd investing, venture capital and private equity are part of the own capital and together account for 0.3 percent of the balance sheet total. Following the removal of legal obstacles to the listing of smaller growth-oriented enterprises on the multilateral trading system (Third Market) of the Vienna stock exchange, economic policy is now concentrating on increasing internal financing power by reducing the corporate tax rate.