Suppose that (pn) is an infinitely divisible distribution on the non-negative integers having Lévy measure (vn). In this paper we derive a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of the limit limn→∞ pn/vn. We also derive some other results on the asymptotic behaviour of the sequence (Pn) and apply some of our results to the theory of fluctuations of random walks. We obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for the first positive ladder epoch to belong to the domain of attraction of a spectrally positive stable law with index α, α ∈ (1,2).
