Contingent capital with repeated interconversion between debt‐ and equity‐like instruments

Abstract

AbstractThis paper introduces a new form of contingent capital, contingent convertible securities (CCSs), which might repeatedly convert between debt‐ and equity‐like instruments depending on financial conditions. We derive explicit prices of corporate securities, assuming the cash flow is modeled as a geometric Brownian motion. We present an explicit value of the increased tax shields due to CCSs. We provide an explicit optimal capital structure when CCSs are issued and interestingly, the ratio of the optimal straight bond coupon to CCS coupon is constant and independent of the firm's financial conditions. All the conclusions hold true also for contingent convertibles.