Accelerated Return Note (ARN)

  

Think about an ARN like it's a bond that converts into an index fund. Or rather, it has the option to convert into an index fund if the bond holder wants it to. In essence, a buyer of the bond risks losing, say, a third of the bond's value in return for the option of potentially participating in a big, fat, bull market rise in the stock market. Basically, ARNs are just bonds that are convertible with a little bit of spice. They come in all kinds of flavors and covenants, and only exist in a world of anemic bond returns, like that of the modern era. They are not for the faint of heart.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is Busted Convertible?14 Views

00:00

Finance a la shmoop..what is a busted convertible?

00:06

well techno growth forever biotechs swore to its customers that upon death they [Mans head enters into a glass jar]

00:12

could sever their heads freeze them and in 40 years they would have technology

00:16

to have them reborn into a really cool robot body and yeah kim kardashian model

00:22

was a huge huge hit we cannot lie.... The company stocks zoomed to a hundred

00:27

dollars a share and management needed cash to open offices in China Latin [Cash travels around the world]

00:32

America and Africa but they didn't want to suffer dilution by just selling

00:36

equity or part ownership in themselves to the street at least not at the

00:41

hundred dollar share price they really just wanted to borrow money [Cash and an IOU note appears on a table]

00:44

to fund these new offices because well they thought their stock would easily

00:48

get to $250 a share in the next few years

00:52

tons of people out there who wanted to you know live forever

00:55

you know like fame.....nevermind their bankers were nervous about how

01:00

investors would react to just a straight bond which carried 8% interest so

01:05

instead they kind of compromised by doing a convertible preferred stock [Men give handshake]

01:10

offering they sold preferred stock to the street that carried just 3% interest

01:15

but those preferred shares were convertible into common stock at a

01:19

hundred seventy five bucks a share so the owners of the preferred would keep [Stock value of biotech company rises]

01:23

clipping their three percent coupons until one day the stock hit a hundred

01:27

seventy five bucks or better well and then they could participate in the

01:31

[Man hits a baseball] upside if the stock really was a homerun but sadly as many things do in shmoop

01:36

video....Test came back from the early decapitating trials and well they were

01:40

oh so not good legions of zombies began to roam the streets and while consumers [Zombies walking along the streets]

01:45

just didn't want to go there they'd rather truly rest in peace so the stock

01:49

cratered down to $20 a share where it would sit for all eternity in what is

01:54

called a busted convertible and took us a while to get there but we got

01:58

there the convertible preferred would pay 3% a year in interest as it always [Preferred stock with 3% interest sticker]

02:03

had and a convertible stock is so far below the conversion price of $175 well,

02:09

investors assume it will never convert the investment case views

02:13

the convert solely as a preferred or kind of like a bond offering against

02:17

competitive bond interest rates so yeah that's a busted convertible although so

02:23

is this they really never should have given robot Kim K a driver's license [Robot Kim Kardashian beside an upside down, crashed car]

Up Next

Finance: What is Convertible Debt?
43 Views

What is convertible debt? Convertible debt is a type of bond that’s issued by a corporation. Ownership of these bonds means that the holder has t...

Finance: What are the Different Types of Bonds?
424 Views

What are the different types of bonds? Well, a mortgage is the biggie. Then there are government bonds, which are at the bottom of the risk ladder....

Finance: What's the Difference Between Mutual Funds and Index Funds?
121 Views

What is the difference between mutual funds and index funds? Mutual funds are professionally managed. Those investors trade shares and realize taxa...

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)