- A corporate bond is a bond issued by a corporation to raise money effectively in order to expand its business. The term is usually applied to longer-term debt instruments, generally with a maturity date falling at least a year after their issue date.
- It is a debt security issued by a corporation and sold to investors. The backing for the bond is usually the payment ability of the company, which is typically money to be earned from future operations. In some cases, the company’s physical assets may be used as collateral for bonds.
- Corporate bonds are considered higher risk than government bonds. As a result, interest rates are almost always higher, even for top-flight credit quality companies.
- It is a major source of capital for many businesses along with equity and bank loans/lines of credit.
- Generally speaking, a company needs to have some consistent earnings potential to be able to offer debt securities to the public at a favorable coupon rate. The higher a company’s perceived credit quality, the easier it becomes to issue debt at low rates and issue higher amounts of debt.
- Most corporate bonds are taxable with terms of more than one year.