Chapters
Work through the chapters in order or jump to the topic you need. Each chapter is self-contained and links to the next.
- What is a Eurobond? – The basic definition, why the name has nothing to do with the euro, and the features most Eurobonds share.
- A short history of the Eurobond market – From the Eurodollar deposits of the 1950s and the 1963 Autostrade issue to today's multi-trillion market.
- Eurobonds, foreign bonds and domestic bonds – How a Eurobond differs from a Yankee, Samurai or Bulldog bond and from an ordinary domestic bond.
- Who issues Eurobonds? – Sovereigns, supranationals, agencies, banks and corporates, and why each of them comes to the market.
- How a Eurobond is issued – Mandate, documentation, bookbuilding, pricing, allocation and closing: the steps of a new issue.
- Coupons, payment dates and day count – How Eurobond interest is calculated and paid, including the 30/360 convention and accrued interest.
- Bond prices and yields – Price as a percentage of par, current yield, yield to maturity and why prices fall when rates rise.
- Duration and interest-rate risk – Measuring how sensitive a bond's price is to changes in interest rates.
- Credit ratings explained – What the S&P, Moody's and Fitch scales mean and where the investment-grade line sits.
- Credit spreads – Why riskier issuers pay more and how spreads are measured and compared.
- Currency risk in Eurobonds – What happens when the bond's currency is not the investor's currency, and how hedging works.
- Sovereign and emerging-market Eurobonds – Why governments borrow in hard currency, how the asset class is analysed and what happens in a restructuring.
- Corporate Eurobonds – Investment-grade and high-yield company bonds: structure, ranking and what drives their value.
- Clearing, settlement and custody – Euroclear, Clearstream, ISIN codes, settlement cycles and how ownership is held.
- Bond documentation and covenants – Terms and conditions, negative pledge, events of default, trustees and governing law.
- Callable, floating-rate and other bond structures – Calls, puts, floating-rate notes, zero-coupon bonds, perpetuals and convertibles.
- Green, social and sustainability bonds – Use-of-proceeds bonds, sustainability-linked bonds and the frameworks behind them.
- Liquidity and secondary-market trading – How Eurobonds trade over the counter, bid–ask spreads and electronic platforms.
- The main risks of investing in Eurobonds – Credit, interest-rate, currency, liquidity, legal and operational risks in one place.
- How private investors access Eurobonds – Brokers, private banks, minimum sizes, bond funds and the checks to make before investing.
- Building a bond ladder – An educational look at spreading maturities to manage reinvestment and interest-rate risk.
- How to spot investment scams – Warning signs of high-yield investment programmes, Ponzi schemes and fake bond offers.