Skip to main content

Pre-funded Coupon and Zero-Coupon Bonds: Cost of Capital Analysis

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Finance
  • 128 Accesses

Abstract

Pre-funded coupon bonds have been developed and sold by investment bankers in place of zero-coupon bonds to raise funds for companies facing cash flow problems. Additional bonds are issued and proceeds are deposited in an escrow account to finance the coupon payment. Our analysis indicates that a pre-funded coupon bond is equivalent to a zero-coupon bond only if the return from the escrow account is the same as the yield to maturity of the pre-funded issue. In reality, the escrow return is lower than the bond yield. As a result, the firm provides interest subsidy through issuing additional bonds which leads to higher leverage, greater risk and loss of value compared to a zero-coupon issue.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 649.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 649.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    See Goodman and Cohen (1989) for detailed discussion of paid-in-kind bonds.

  2. 2.

    Bierman (2005) cites some of the recent examples of bond interest collateralization and investor’s perspective.

  3. 3.

    See Ross et al. (2010) for algebraic expression of PVIFA.

  4. 4.

    This is analogous to a situation in portfolio construction. Consider two assets with standard deviations 10% and 20%. For an investor who is long on both assets, the portfolio standard deviation will be between 10% and 20%. However, if the investor is short on first asset and long on the second asset then portfolio standard deviation will exceed 20%.

References

  • Bierman, Harold. 2005. Collaterization of bond interest: An investor’s perspective. Journal of Investing 4: 32–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brigham, Eugene F., and Phillip R. Daves. 2010. Intermediate financial management. Mason: Thomson Southwestern Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doherty, Jacqueline.1997.For junk borrowers, pre-funded bonds pick up steam, but they may pose greater risk than zeros.Barrons, (December), MW15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabbozzi, Frank J. 2010. Bond markets, analysis and strategies. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, Laurie S., and Alan H.Cohen, (1989) Payment-in-Kind debentures: An innovation.Journal of Portfolio Management 9–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers, S.C. 1984. The capital structure puzzle. Journal of Finance 39: 575–592.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macaulay, Frederick.1938. Some theoretical problems suggested by the movement of interest rates, bond yields, and stock prices in the U.S. Since 1856 (National Bureau of Economic Research, New York).

    Google Scholar 

  • Redington, F.M.1952. Review of the principles of life office valuation.Journal of the Institute of Actuaries 286–340.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, Stephen A., Randolph W. Westerfield, and Jeffrey Jaffe. 2010. Corporate finance. Homewood: Irwin McGraw Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Samuelson, Paul A.1945 The effect of interest rate increases on the banking system.American Economic Review 16–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeng, Min. 2008. Zero-Coupon bonds see pop in demand.Wall Street Journal, New York, N.Y., (December 4), 9.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Suresh Srivastava .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Srivastava, S., Hung, K. (2022). Pre-funded Coupon and Zero-Coupon Bonds: Cost of Capital Analysis. In: Lee, CF., Lee, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Finance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91231-4_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics