“FCCB offers thrive, especially when stock market and the economy are booming. Investments are made with an objective of generating certain amount of returns and reinvesting the money in other instruments. Once expected returns are earned, investors can exit without waiting for maturity of the bonds,” says Kiran Vaidya, head of investment banking, Religare Securities. Corporates are also benefited in that they can raise funds at a premium which is added to reserves and helps strengthen their net worth position, he said.
What Kiran - like most other I-Bankers - obviously misses out is its impact on the issuer (company) when Rupee is appreciating like it does now (1$= INR 40.50). The FCCB that stood as debt (borrowed when 1$ fetched INR 45) in the company’s books, becomes a high cost equity upon conversion (now when INR is dearer). Besides the impact of (unintended) cheap conversion, it dilutes earnings and has also to be serviced for life unless bought back. It's a triple whammy for the issuer !
Here’s what I think. Why not issue FCCB with the caveat - if the issuer’s domestic currency appreciates beyond a (hurdle rate) % during its pre-conversion term, the issuer shall have the option to repay the debt at an additional % point of interest over what has already been contracted…Law as it stands now, does not seem to have anything against this condition.
I think that would have saved the day for many issuers today. What do you think ?
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