Tangential is a AA+ rated company that is looking to issue bonds with a five year maturity. Their investment bank adviser has suggested that they issue a Yen 1 billion ‘high’ coupon bond which will be an attractive investment for Japanese pension funds which must pay their pension obligations from income.
The investment bank has suggested that a high coupon and redemption price of 90% of the face value will be a suitable bond structure. The following information is relevant. The current average yield on a AA+ bond is 5.7%. The maximum coupon payment could be 8%.
Show the possible cash flows for the bond and estimate the issue price. You can assume there are no issue costs.
Explain and analyze what the investment bank adviser means if he says that such a bond will allow the investor to convert capital to income.
Discuss any significant disadvantages that you would expect in issuing a high coupon bond.
If Tangential wishes to pay US dollars and not Japanese Yen, what can the company do? Illustrate and analyse your answer with diagrams showing the cash flows.