Question: Suppose you are working on a bond issue for WeWork, a U.S. based firm with a BB credit rating. WeWork plans to issue 10-year par

Suppose you are working on a bond issue for WeWork, a U.S. based firm with a BB credit rating. WeWork plans to issue 10-year par bonds with a face value of $1,000, and has not issued debt before. A competitor with a similar bond rating as WeWork issued 15-year par bonds 5 years ago with face value of $1,000 and an annual coupon rate of 6.5% (paid semi-annually). These bonds are currently trading in the market at a price of $910.88. The 15-year US Treasury bond rate 5 years ago was 2% and the yield on 10year par US Treasury bonds today is 3%. With this information, answer the following two questions. (i) What is the yield to maturity on the bonds that WeWorks competitor issued 5 years ago? And what would be the coupon rate at which you expect WeWork could issue the 10-year par bonds today? Clearly describe the inputs to your calculations and motivate your answer. (ii) Explain why the corporate bonds issued by the competitor 5 years ago are trading below par. Also discuss how the risk of these bonds has changed over time. Are investors today more or less concerned about the interest rate risk and the credit risk of the competitors bonds than they were 5 years ago? Explain your answer (no calculations are needed).

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