Callable Swap

  

Did you ever trade clothes with a friend or sibling because you liked theirs better? And later they took it back? That's kind of what a callable swap is all about.

Two parties make a contract where one set of fixed interest payments is exchanged for the cash flows of a variable interest rate. All are based on a specific principal amount with an expiration (maturity) date. What makes it a callable swap (versus a plain vanilla swap) is that whoever ends up with the fixed interest rate has the right (but not the obligation) to end the contract at any time before the agreed upon date. Because the holder of the variable rate is incurring more risk (interest rates might actually go up or down), a callable swap is more expensive for the fixed rate holder.

Let's say Call Me Handy Inc. receives private financing at a variable interest rate from Borrow Today Pay Tomorrow Inc. in order to build a new factory. When overall interest rates start to go down, they decide to swap that variable rate for a fixed interest rate. Call Me Handy thinks there might be a chance they will sell the factory early, and might decide to end the swap before the maturity date, thus calling in the swap.

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Finance: What are Convertible Bonds?9 Views

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Finance a la shmoop what are convertible bonds? okay there's a joke about the

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Inquisition in here somewhere or maybe something about Cossacks and 17th

00:13

century Russia what do you think animated musical or maybe a King Henry [King Henry VIII appears]

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thing but yeah all that's different kind of conversion way more pedantically a

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company might be having a hard time selling or issuing its bonds to Wall [Man with company briefcase for head meets man with Wall Street briefcase for a head]

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Street in order for them to close the deal with their stock trading today at

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25 bucks a share they might say well these bonds are convertible into 20 [Man with company for a head discussing bonds]

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shares of our stock that is they would have a single thousand dollar unit of

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that bond and it would convert into 20 shares which would then value the shares

00:48

at 50 bucks either thousand divided by 20 there's 50 it's an advanced calculus

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sorry if you didn't have it which would sort of be you know the over/under price

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at which bondholders would start to seriously look at converting their nice

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safe bonds into those risky pesky equities well why would a company offer

01:06

convertible bonds instead of you know just vanilla bonds well if they were [Man discussing convertible bonds]

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stuck paying 6% interest on just bonds but really could only afford to pay 4%

01:18

well they might get the interest rate discount by throwing in that equity

01:23

kicker in the bonds having that convertibility feature yes they would

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suffer dilution at 50 bucks a share but that price is double and change where

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the stocks out here so the company is probably thinking that it wouldn't mind

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some dilution from these bonds being converted up there in stock price right [Arrow points to stock value mark on graph]

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and remember the bonds pay the 4% interest along the way until they are

01:47

converted the moment those bonds are converted into equity well then the debt

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on the balance sheet of the company and its obligation to pay that 4% yearly [Company balance sheet and interest highlighted]

01:56

interest goes mercifully away they print 20 more shares for each bond converted

02:02

and yes those shares may pay a dividend but as far as the convertible bonds go

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they are thereafter converted and saved and remember Jesus Saves but Moses

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invests

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