MINICASE: Financing J&J Air's Expansion Plans with a Bond Issue

Mike Jackson and Terrence Jensen are the owners of J&J Air, and they recently decided to expand the company. Recently hired financial analyst, Gus Christie, has been instructed to locate an underwriter who can help the firm sell $35 million in new 10-year bonds. The bonds will be used to finance construction as part of the firm's expansion. Valerie Harper is an underwriter with the investment banking firm of Warren & Zevon. After Gus contacted her, Valerie briefed him regarding various bond features J&J should consider, along with an appropriate coupon rate for the anticipated bond issue.

Gus is aware of the bond features, although he is uncertain regarding the costs and benefits of some features. Accordingly, he remains unsure about how each of these features might influence the bond issue's coupon rate. Assume you are Valerie's assistant, and she has asked you to draft a memo to Gus that clearly describes the effect of each of the following bond features on the coupon rate of the new bond issue. She also instructed you to describe the advantages and disadvantages of each feature.

1. The security of the bond; i.e., whether the bond has collateral.
2. The seniority of the bond.
3. The presence of a sinking fund.
4. A call provision with specified call dates and call prices.
5. A deferred call accompanying the call provision.
6. A make-whole call provision.
7. Any positive covenants. Also, discuss several possible positive covenants J&J Air might consider.
8. Any negative covenants. Also, discuss several possible negative covenants J&J Air might consider.
9. A conversion feature (note that S&S Air is not a publicly traded company).
10. A floating rate coupon.

Use outside research sources in addition to the text book (journals, news articles, etc. -- but NOT Wikipedia). Properly document your sources, in-text references and a reference list.