Convertible bonds are the debt instruments issued which can be converted after a pre-specified date for a pre-specified number of securities (generally equity stock). It is necessary that all other relevant inform about the conversion of the bonds should be clearly given in the offer document of the convertible bond.
Investor has the choice to convert or not convert the bonds into stocks. If he chooses not to convert the bonds into stock then he will keep receiving interest payments from the company. In the other case, he will get a specific number of equity shares of the company. Since the investor is getting the conversion privilege, he/she will accept a lower coupon rate for a convertible bond compared with an otherwise identical non-convertible bond (i.e., a non-convertible bond with same credit rating, the same term to maturity, etc.). Thus, we can conclude that convertible bonds may have a lower cost of capital in comparison to non-convertible bonds with same caracteristics. It may be possible that when conversion of bonds becomes due the conversion price is lower than the market price of the share. In such a scenario the company will loose what it earned because of lower cost of capital. Therefore, it is very necessary that the company should set the conversion price very carefully.