Optimal Timing of Bond Refunding

Abstract

Refunding is the operation by which the issuer of a bond calls it before maturity in order to replace it with another issue. The chief reason for calling is the interest saving which a new bond may make possible. In deciding whether to call a bond at any given time, the issuer must consider not only the potential savings from the current refunding, but also from future refundings up to some horizon fixed by financial policy. These savings must also be compared with those resulting from the decision to postpone refunding. This paper formulates the refunding problem in terms of a dynamic programming model in which the term structure of interest rates is utilized to obtain information about the future course of interest rates.