Anatomy of option features in convertible bonds

Several earlier theoretical studies on the optimal issuer's calling policy of a convertible bond suggest that the issuer should call the bond as soon as the conversion value exceeds the call price. However, empirical studies on actual cases of calling by convertible bond issuers reveal that firms “delayed” calling their convertible bonds until the conversion value well exceeded the call price. In this paper, we construct valuation algorithms that price risky convertible bonds with embedded option features. In particular, we examine the impact of the soft call and hard call constraints, notice period requirement and other factors on the optimal issuer's calling policy. Our results show that the critical stock price at which the issuer should optimally call the convertible bond depends quite sensibly on these constraints and requirements. The so‐called “delayed call phenomena” may be largely attributed to the underestimation of the critical call price due to inaccurate modeling of the contractual provisions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 24:513–532, 2004     

Determinants of callable convertible bond prices

A new model is proposed in this paper that efficiently estimates the after-market prices of callable convertible bonds. The proposed model is shown to be fairly stable over time and across firm size. The paper also shows that, among other factors, call price and bankruptcy indicators are significant determinants of callable convertible bond prices, suggesting that a priori specification regarding the exercise of call option and the ignorance of firm's possible bankruptcy, as done in past studies, are inappropriate for convertible bond price estimation.     

Are green bonds priced lower than their conventional peers?

The green bond market's rapid growth has alerted issuers and investors to this sustainable area of investment. This study ascertains whether green bonds are priced lower than conventional bonds—whether a negative green bond premium exists in both Chinese and global bond markets—and the driving forces behind any such green bond premium. First, an event study is set up to observe stock market's reaction upon issuance of green bonds to test whether green bonds are embedded with additional value by improving the issuer's equity market performance. Then, using the matching method and a two-layer regression process, the study estimates the green bond premium in the Chinese and global markets, respectively, and analyses factors affecting the green bond premium. The event study reveals that green bond issuance could reduce the issuer's equity return performance. The regression models found no significant negative green bond premium in either Chinese or global markets, indicating that green bonds are not priced significantly lower than conventional bonds. However, global market models show that issuing green bonds in CNY could reduce the green bond premium, unlike in USD or EUR.     

可转换债券融资动因综述

可转换债券作为一种重要的融资方式,是介于股票和债券之间的一种债券。可转换债券具有期权的性质,企业采用可转换债券融资的原因主要包括代理成本、信息不对称、税收优惠与条款设计。通过对可转换债券融资动因的文献进行简单的梳理,得出我国应该借鉴国际上可转换债券的研究结论,重点从可转换债券的条款设计入手,来防止代理成本、信息不对称等一系列的问题,从而使可转换债券市场得到稳定、持续的发展。     

可转换债券融资对我国上市公司价值的影响研究

可转换债券兼有股权融资和债权融资的两种效用,通常会促使投资者对转股时机与转股数量有不同的决策,这些决策对发行可转换债券的公司价值有不同影响。文章通过建立影响公司价值的分析模型,探讨我国上市公司发行可转换债券对公司价值所产生的影响,并利用我国上市公司1998年至2014年期间发行可转换债券的样本数据进行实证分析。研究发现：上市公司进行可转换债券融资后,公司价值会因其偿债能力变化而下降;国有股权比例之于公司价值的影响,是通过影响公司经理人经营行为来实现的;成长性不同的公司在债券存续期内的公司价值变化,并不存在显著差异。文章基于委托代理角度对可转换债券影响我国上市公司价值展开研究,在一定程度和范围内拓宽了公司治理问题的分析空间。     

中国资本市场融资顺序新证:可转债发行公告效应研究

This paper empirically shows that the announcements of the issue of convertible bonds (CBs) by Chinese firms have significant negative effects on shareholders’ wealth. We find that when the samples are partitioned by equity component negative market responses towards the announcements of issuing equity-like CBs are more than that of debt-like CBs. This finding is different from the “pecking order hypothesis” of Myers and Majluf (1984). By analyzing the firm characteristics of convertible bond issuers, we find that the wealth effects are negatively related to equity component, firm size and issue size of convertible bonds, and are positively related to financial leverage, liquidity structure of equity, book value of non-liquidity equity and market-to-book ratio. The underlying reason of equity finance taking precedence of bond finance in Chinese capital market can be attributed the to special “two-system-ownership structure” and corporate governance of Chinese listed companies. Translated from Guanli Shijie 管理世界 (Management World), 2006, (6): 19–27     

Why do companies issue convertible bond loans? An empirical analysis for the Canadian market

To identify issuer motives, we study the determinants of announcement effects of convertible debt issues in the Canadian market. Classified into equity‐ and debt‐like, wealth effects are significantly more negative for equity‐like convertible bond issuers. Equity‐like convertibles are significantly negatively affected by agency costs of equity. However, agency costs of debt have no significant effect on debt‐like convertibles. Consistent with Stein (1992), this suggests convertibles in particular represent a substitute for equity. Moreover, convertible debt offers announced by income trusts experience significantly less negative wealth effects than offers by nontrusts—a finding explained by a more debt‐like convertible design, very low agency costs of equity in case of income trusts, or both. Copyright © 2008 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the simultaneity of real and financial policies

This study investigates the interdependencies between a firm's real and financial decisions. One cause of this interdependence is, as with several previous studies, the real costs associated with bankruptcy. A classical multiperiod model is developed which allows for the endogeneity of debt issues, interest rates, the probability of firm default, and dividends. The modeling suggests an explanation for dividend determination which differs from traditional views. The resulting explanation is that funds are always channelled into the most profitable use. Thus, the model generates an optimal quantity of dividends which cannot be altered without decreasing the expected return to equity.     

Managerial Opportunism and Capital Structure Adjustments: Equity–for–debt Swap and Convertible Debt

This paper shows how capital structure adjustments through an equity–for–debt swap and convertible debt can resolve the inefficiency caused by managerial opportunism. We consider a situation in which a corporate manager's investment decision is affected by the firm's debt level. Although both an equity–for–debt swap and convertible debt can induce the self–interested manager to undertake only value–increasing projects through capital structure adjustments, there exists a significant difference between these two financial instruments. An equity–for–debt swap, which requires the agreement of both shareholders and debt holders, can change a firm's debt level only prior to the manager's investment decision. On the other hand, convertible debt, which gives debt holders a unilateral right to convert, can change a firm's debt level even after the manager's investment decision.     

Convertible Debt: Financing Decisions and Voluntary Conversion under Ambiguity

This paper integrates ambiguity into a contingent claim model for convertible debt. We study how convertible debt valuation is affected by the ambiguity biases of equity holders and debt holders and provide sensitivity analysis of the bond value to changes in attitude toward ambiguity, firm and bond parameters. Our results, which are summarized into five main predictions, are consistent with recent empirical evidence and offer a possible interpretation of some corporate finance puzzles.     

Contingent Capital,Real Options,and Agency Costs

This paper aims to clarify how contingent convertible bond (CoCo) as a debt financing instrument affects a firm's investment policy, agency cost of debt, and capital structure. We consider endogenous and exogenous conversion thresholds, respectively. Under the exogenous case, there is an explicit optimal fraction of equity allocated to CoCo holders upon conversion, such that the agency cost reaches zero. Numerical analysis demonstrates that under an endogenous conversion threshold, CoCo induces overinvestment, a higher leverage, a possible bigger agency cost, and a stronger incentive to increase risk. But if the conversion threshold is exogenously determined, almost the opposite holds true.     

Causes and effects of consumer bankruptcies: a cross-cultural comparison

Data for this study were collected during 1988 through surveys conducted in Canada, Japan, Scotland and the United States. The overall objectives of the study were to determine differences in factors influencing decisions to file bankruptcy, expectations from bankruptcy and impact of bankruptcy filing on debtor's life in each country. It was found that over 50% of debtors in all countries except the United States (46%) identified ‘too much borrowing’ as a reason for having to file for bankruptcy. Most of the debtors in each country agreed that bankruptcy provided a ‘fresh start’. In addition, U.S. and Canadian debtors also indicated that filing for bankruptcy had a positive influence on their health status, family relations and the employment status. The impact of bankruptcy for Japanese debtors was rather harsh, resulting in family problems, health problems, suicides and running away from home. To help reduce the growth in bankruptcy and halt repeat bankruptcies, a multi-level effort focusing on lending practices, borrowing practices and bankruptcy procedures is needed.     

Firm-Level Determinants of the Financing Decisions of Small and Medium Enterprises: Evidence from Argentina

This article studies the determinants of the financing decisions of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which we characterize through three cases: trade-off behavior, pecking order, and extreme aversion to debt. We test our hypotheses using a dataset of firms from Bahía Blanca (Argentina) for two years: 2006 and 2010. We find that firm characteristics related to information asymmetries, such as firm age, size, and legal form; and personal factors, such as owner’s age and education; and perception of emotional bankruptcy costs, are relevant variables in SME financing behavior. The recognition of extreme aversion to debt motivates reconsideration of the underleverage problem of SMEs.     

Bond Rate,Loan Rate and Tobin's q in a Temporary Equilibrium Model of the Financial Sector

The paper sets up a portfolio model of the financial sector with markets for equity, government bonds, money and debt. The comparative statics of the temporary equilibrium are studied analytically and numerically. Subsequent simulations explore the reactions of financial markets in response to stylized oscillations of some of the exogenous variables. These include economic activity, income distribution, inflation, investors' sentiment, and banks' perceived bankruptcy risk of firms. Special emphasis is put on the resulting cyclical pattern of Tobin's q and the interest spread between loan rate and bond rate.     

The valuation of inflation‐indexed and FX convertible bonds

This paper derives a valuation model of inflation‐indexed convertible bonds that incorporates the firm's stock price, inflation indexing and the firm's credit risk. The pricing of inflation‐indexed convertible bonds traded on the Tel‐Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) was empirically tested by using a comprehensive database. The study is the first to empirically test the pricing of convertibles in emerging markets. It was found that the theoretical values for the bonds are, on average, 1.94% higher than the observed market prices. Unlike previous studies, it was found that the underpricing increases with the moneyness of the convertible. It was found that as the maturity lengthens, the underpricing increases. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 28:634–655, 2008     

Optimal consumption and investment with liquid and illiquid assets

I consider an optimal consumption/investment problem to maximize expected utility from consumption. In this market model, the investor is allowed to choose a portfolio that consists of one bond, one liquid risky asset (no transaction costs), and one illiquid risky asset (proportional transaction costs). I fully characterize the optimal consumption and trading strategies in terms of the solution of the free boundary ordinary differential equation (ODE) with an integral constraint. I find an explicit characterization of model parameters for the well‐posedness of the problem, and show that the problem is well posed if and only if there exists a shadow price process. Finally, I describe how the investor's optimal strategy is affected by the additional opportunity of trading the liquid risky asset, compared to the simpler model with one bond and one illiquid risky asset.     

Prediction of hotel bankruptcy using support vector machine,artificial neural network,logistic regression,and multivariate discriminant analysis

The objectives of this paper are firstly, to provide an optimal hotel bankruptcy prediction approach to minimize the empirical risk of misclassification and secondly, to investigate the functional characteristics of multivariate discriminant analysis, logistic, artificial neural networks (ANNs), and support vector machine (SVM) models in hotel bankruptcy prediction. The performances were evaluated not only in terms of overall classification and prediction accuracy but also in terms of relative error cost ratios. The results showed that ANN and SVM were very applicable models in bankruptcy prediction with data from Korean hotels. When jointly measuring both type I and type II errors, especially allowing for the greater costs associated with type I errors, however, ANN was more accurate with smaller estimated relative error costs than SVM. Thus, if the objective is to find the best early warning technique that performs accurately with small relative error costs, then, it will be worth considering ANN method for hotel bankruptcy prediction.     

Pricing Options On Risky Assets In A Stochastic Interest Rate Economy1

This paper studies contingent claim valuation of risky assets in a stochastic interest rate economy. the model employed generalizes the approach utilized by Heath, Jarrow, and Morton (1992) by imbedding their stochastic interest rate economy into one containing an arbitrary number of additional risky assets. We derive closed form formulae for certain types of European options in this context, notably call and put options on risky assets, forward contracts, and futures contracts. We also value American contingent claims whose payoffs are permitted to be general functions of both the term structure and asset prices generalizing Bensoussan (1984) and Karatzas (1988) in this regard. Here, we provide an example where an American call's value is well defined, yet there does not exist an optimal trading strategy which attains this value. Furthermore, this example is not pathological as it is a generalization of Roll's (1977) formula for a call option on a stock that pays discrete dividends.     

可转债发行公司经营绩效实证研究

对中国上市公司2000-2004年间发行的可转债进行研究,统计检验结果发现,可转债发行后两年内,发行公司经营绩效有小幅下降,与行业规模组对比,发行可转债的公司属于绩优公司,发行前后各项绩效指标都高于行业规模组,而与增发配股组比较,二者不存在显著差异,发行后转债组的成长性指标高于增发配股组。     

RISK-AVERSION BEHAVIOR IN CONSUMPTION/INVESTMENT PROBLEMS1

In this paper, we study the risk-aversion behavior of an agent in the dynamic framework of consumption/investment decision making that allows the possibility of bankruptcy. Agent's consumption utility is assumed to be represented by a strictly increasing, strictly concave, continuously differentiable function in the general case and by a HARA-type function in the special case treated in the paper. Coefficients of absolute and relative risk aversion are defined to be the well-known curvature measures associated with the derived utility of wealth obtained as the value function of the agent's optimization problem. Through an analysis of these coefficients, we show how the change in agent's risk aversion as his wealth changes depends on his consumption utility and the other problem parameters, including the payment at bankruptcy. Moreover, in the HARA case, we can conclude that the agent's relative risk aversion is nondecreasing with wealth, while his absolute risk aversion is decreasing with wealth only if he is sufficiently wealthy. At lower wealth levels, however, the agent's absolute risk aversion may increase with wealth in some cases.