Chapter 6 | Fixed-Income Securities: Features and Types

1. THE FIXED-INCOME MARKETPLACE

• To finance operations or growth

• To take advantage of financial leverage

2.THE BASIC FEATURES AND TERMINOLOGY OF FIXED-INCOME SECURITIES

BOND TERMINOLOGY

• Par value

• Coupon rate

• Maturity date

• Term to maturity

• Bond price

• Yield to maturity

Liquidity, negotiability, and marketability

STRIP BONDS

Zero coupon bond is high-quality bonds separates future-dated interest coupons from the rest of the bond (bond residue).

CALLABLE BONDS

Redemption feature : Bond issuers often reserve the right, but not the obligation, to pay off the bond before maturity.

STANDARD CALL FEATURES

Allows the issuer to call bonds for redemption at a specified price on either specific dates.

EXTENDIBLE AND RETRACTABLE BONDS

-Option to extend the investment

-Option to redeem early

CONVERTIBLE BONDS

Option of exchanging the bond for common shares

FORCED CONVERSION

• It relieves the issuer of the obligation to make interest payments on debt once investors convert their debt into equities.

• It can free up room for new debt financing, if needed.

SINKING FUNDS AND PURCHASE FUNDS

• Sinking funds are sums of money that are set aside out of earnings each year to provide for the repayment of all or part of a debt issue by maturity.

• A fund is set up to retire a specified amount of the outstanding bonds or debentures through purchases in the market

PROTECTIVE PROVISIONS OF CORPORATE BONDS

• Security

• Negative pledge

• Limitation on sale and leaseback transactions

• Sale of assets or merger

• Dividend test

• Debt test

• Additional bond provisions

• Sinking or purchase fund and call provisions

3. GOVERNMENT OF CANADA SECURITIES

BONDS

Government of Canada issues marketable bonds in its own name.

TREASURY BILLS

T-bills are short-term government obligations.

CANADA SAVINGS BONDS AND CANADA PREMIUM BONDS

(CSBs) and (CPBs) were a secure savings product fully guaranteed by the Government of Canada.

REAL RETURN BONDS

Coupon payments and principal repayment are adjusted for inflation to provide a fixed real coupon rate.

4. PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT SECURITIES

GUARANTEED BONDS

PROVINCIAL SECURITIES

• They can be purchased only by residents of the province.

• They can be purchased only at a certain time of the year.

• They are redeemable every six months (or, in Quebec, at any time).

MUNICIPAL SECURITIES

Instalment debenture (serial bond). Part of this bond matures in each year of its term.

5. TYPES OF CORPORATE BONDS

MORTGAGE BONDS

Agreement to pledge land, buildings, or equipment as security for a loan.

FLOATING-RATE SECURITIES

Variable-rate securities are a type of corporate issue that automatically adjusts to changing interest rates.

DOMESTIC, FOREIGN, AND EUROBONDS

Domestic bonds are issued in the currency and country of the issuer.

Foreign bonds are issued outside of the issuer’s country and denominated in the currency of the country in which they are issued.

Eurobonds are international bonds issued in a currency other than the currency of the country where the bond is issued.

• Collateral trust bond

• Equipment trust certificates

• Subordinated debentures

• Corporate notes

• High-yield bonds

6. OTHER FIXED-INCOME SECURITIES

BANKERS’ ACCEPTANCES

BA is a commercial draft drawn by a borrower for payment on a specified date.

COMMERCIAL PAPER

Either an unsecured promissory note issued by a corporation or an asset-backed security backed by a pool of underlying financial assets.

TERM DEPOSITS

Offer a guaranteed rate for a short-term deposit.

GUARANTEED INVESTMENT CERTIFICATES

GIC offer fixed rates of interest for a specific term. Both principal and interest payments are guaranteed.

Types of Guaranteed Investment Certificates:

• Escalating-rate GIC

• Laddered GIC

• Instalment GIC

• Index-linked GIC

• Interest-rate linked GIC

FIXED-INCOME MUTUAL FUNDS AND EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS

7. BOND QUOTES AND RATINGS

DBRS, Moody’s, and S&P provide independent rating services for many debt securities.