Thursday, January 24, 2013

Newbie's bond portfolio - Trade #9

I bought USD100k notional of CNP Assurances 7.5% USD Perp as my ninth trade.

At a client price of 107.65, it works out to:
YTM = 6.92%
YTC (first call date 18th October 2018) = 5.91%

I will be using USD loans to fully fund the purchase.

Assuming this bond is fully supported by USD loans up till the approved lending ratio, the projected Net leveraged yields are:
Leveraged YTM = 28.58%
Leveraged YTC = 23.53%

Rationale for purchase:
I had bought this USD perpetual at par in my main portfolio and I have been keen on adding more of it as I find its risk/return ratio very attractive. Unfortunately, when my mini portfolio was built up, the price had shot to 110. The moment I noticed its price retreating to the 107 levels, I decided to buy it for my mini portfolio.

This USD perpetual pays 7.5% till 2018 and then resets to 6 year swap rate + 6.481% from 2018-2024 and 6 year swap rate + 6.481% + 1% thereafter.

CNP Assurances is the largest life insurer in France. It has a Market Capitalisation of just under EUR10 billion. French Sovereign entities own close to 40% of CNP Assurances and I believe that there will be sovereign support when necessary. CNP Assurances policies have an interesting loss-sharing clause with the policy holders which reduces the loss amounts CNP Assurances will bear should investments turn sour.
The coupon structure is very favourable as it resets to buffer for future interest rate hikes. Given CNP Assurances is subject to Basel/Solvency rules, I believe there is a high chance that this perpetual bond will be called back at par on the first call date.

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