Konvertibla Lån på den Svenska Marknaden
En studie av sex konvertibelemissioner
Issuing convertible bonds for financing purposes has never become widespread practice amongst Swedish companies, in spite of the instrument being common in international markets. Economic theory based on efficient markets suggests that companies should gain no financial benefits from using convertibles and the Swedish situation could be interpreted as in line with this reasoning. However, there are Swedish companies that have chosen to issue convertibles and the Swedish market therefore seems both supportive and contradictory to the existence of benefits of convertible bond financing. Little research concerning the Swedish market has been conducted and the purpose of this explorative thesis is thus to enhance the understanding of the Swedish market for convertibles. This is achieved by conducting in-depth interviews with six listed Swedish companies that have recently issued convertible bonds. Their reasons for using this instrument have been interpreted in light of existing theory on corporate use of convertible bonds. The results of the study show that the participating companies are partly in line with theory with respect to industry and company characteristics, as well as to their reasons for selecting convertible bond financing. Two additional factors have been identified that strongly influence the choice and design of the instrument: limited access to other financing sources and the Swedish tradition of pre-emptive rights issues. Convertible bonds provide the participating firms with a means of securing financing and of reducing shareholder dilution, and the security is designed thereafter.