Debt and Dividends in Pyramidal Structures: Evidence from France Abe de Jong Department of Finance Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands ajong@rsm.nl Phone: 31-10-408-1022 Douglas V. DeJong * Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242, USA douglas-dejong@uiowa.edu Phone: 319-335-0919 Fax: 319-335-1956 Ulrich Hege Department of Finance, HEC Paris 78351 Jouy-en-Josas Cedex, France hege@hec.fr Phone: 33-1 39 67 72 99 Gerard Mertens Department of Accounting and Control Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands gmertens@rsm.nl Phone: 31-10-408-2556 Draft: 19 April 2009 * Corresponding author. The authors appreciate the helpful comments from Daniel Wolfenzon and T.J. Wong, as well as from seminar participants at Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tilburg University, University of Cologne, HEC Paris, Helsinki School of Economics, Swedish School of Economics and the 2008 European Accounting Association. The authors acknowledge the excellent and extensive research assistance provided by Sereeparp Anantavrasilp.