
4-2 VALUING FINANCIAL ASSETS
v-1.1 v.05/13/94
p.01/14/00
Bank loan:
agreement
between lender
and borrower
A bank loan is an agreement between a company and its bank. The bank
provides a line of credit for the company to use, and the company pays
the bank a rate of interest when it uses the credit line to borrow funds.
Bank loans are priced so that the lending bank covers the cost
of the funds and makes a profit.
Bond:
agreement
between issuer
and investor
Bonds represent loans by investors to a company. In a bond contract, the
investor purchases a certificate from the issuer in exchange for a stream
of interest payments and the return of a principal amount at the end of
the contract. In this section we will discuss the terminology of the bond
market and the methodology for calculating the price (present value) of
a bond.
Bond Terminology
There are several terms that are commonly used by investors and
issuers when dealing with bonds.
Coupon
The periodic interest payment made by the issuer.
When bonds were first developed, the bond
certificate had detachable coupons that the
investor would send to the issuer to receive each
interest payment. The term still applies to
payments, even though coupons are no longer
used to redeem them.
Coupon rate The interest rate used to calculate the coupon
amount the bond will pay. This rate is multiplied
by the face value of the bond to arrive at the
coupon amount.
Face (par) value
The amount printed on the certificate. The face
value represents the principal in the loan
agreement, which is the amount the issuer pays at
maturity of the bond.