Pricing Convertible Bonds Subject to Default Risk

Abstract

Convertible bonds are commonplace securities, but valuing them properly is tricky. In addition to being exposed to interest rate risk like any bond in a stochastic interest rate environment, they contain both an option to convert them into shares of the issuing firm, and also exposure to the risk of default. In this article, Hung and Wang present a lattice technique that allows relatively straightforward valuation, even in the presence of these three sources of risk. After describing their technique in general, they put it to use to evaluate a convertible bond issued by Lucent.