Corporate Bond Issuance Process
企业债券发行过程
Corporations issue bonds publicly to raise money for various spending needs. Corporate bond issuance goes through a typical process that also involves an underwriter, a legal counsel and some form of a closing agent. While the issuer itself must prepare to formulate the basic bond issuance structure, the underwriter takes charge of marketing the bond issuance, the legal counsel drafts any public statements and the closing agent executes fund distributions.
企业公开发行债券来集资以满足不同的开销需求。典型的企业债券发行程序，通常牵涉到承销商，法律顾问和某种形式的结算代理。但发行人本身必要准备制定基本的债券发行结构，承销商负责行销债券发行，法律顾问起草公开声明，结算代理执行资金分配。
· Preparation
准备
The bond issuer initiates the bond issuance process by formulating a basic structure for the bond issuance, sometimes with the help of a financial adviser. Matters involved in the issuance structure include the purpose of the bond issuance, such as investing in a capital project, retiring an earlier debt or other uses that the company board deems appropriate; preliminary terms of the bond's coupon rate, interest payment dates and maturity years; and selling method of the bond -- whether to negotiate with one underwriter or collect bids from multiple underwriters.
债券发行人通过制定一个基本的债券发行结构开始债券发行，有时是借助于财务咨询师。关于发行结构包括债券发行目的，例如在投资方案中的投资，收回早期债务，或其他董事会视为合理的使用途径；债券的票面利率初步计算，利息支付日期和成熟期；以及债券销售方法——与一个承销商进行谈判，或收集来自多个承销商的投标。
Underwriting
包销
The underwriter, often an investment bank, starts its work based on the bond issuance structure established by the issuer. Sometimes the underwriter helps structure the bond issuance. But the main job of an underwriter is to market the bond issuance to the investing public. Underwriting requires that the underwriter first purchase the entire bond issuance from the corporate issuer and deliver the proceeds to the company; the underwriter then resells them to bond investors through its network of marketing forces.
承销商，通常是投资银行，基于发行人制定的债券发行结构开始工作。有时承销商帮助组织债券发行。但是包销商的主要工作是将发行的债券销售给投资大众，包销要求承销商首先从公司发行人那里购买全部发行的债券，并将收益交付给公司；承销商然后再通过网络营销力量把这些债券转售给债券发行人。
Documentation
文件材料
The legal counsel helps draft legal documents and public statements covering a range of matters concerning the issuer, the bond issuance and other legal aspects of the bond financing. For example, the legal counsel must give his legal opinions to address certain public concerns such as whether the issuer is a viable enterprise and whether material litigation is pending against the issuer. The legal counsel also helps deliver necessary public disclosure statements to bond purchasers, including the bond issuance prospectus.
法律顾问帮助起草法律文件和公开声明，涵盖发行人，债券发行和债券融资等其他法律方面的问题。例如，法律顾问必须对某些公众关注给出法律意见，像发行人是不是一个可行的实体以及发行人的未决诉讼等。法律顾问也向债券购买人发布必要的公开披露报表，包括债券发行说明书。
Closing
结算
The primary agent involved at the closing is the so-called paying agent or a trustee who is responsible for distributing bond proceeds and servicing the debt on behalf of the bond issuer during the entire bond term. The paying agent often is a bank chosen by the bond issuer. At the closing of the bond issuance, the paying agent delivers the sales proceeds of the bond from the underwriter to the issuer after paying any issuance costs. The paying agent is also in charge of making interest payments and returning bond principal to bondholders when they're due.
与结算有关的主要代理人被称为付款代理人或受托人，他负责分配债券收益和在完整的债券期间以债券发行人的身份为债务服务。付款代理人通常是债券发行人选择的银行。在债券发行结束时，在支付完发行成本后，付款代理人将债券销售收入从承销商那里转给债券发行人。付款代理人也负责支付利息和到期时返回持券人债券本金。
Methods of Issuing Corporate Bonds
企业债券发行方法
When a company wants to build a new factory or office building, or acquire another company, the cost of doing so is generally higher than can be accommodated by a bank loan. At such times, the company gets its funding through issuing debt privately or to the public. Private issuance is called a private placement of debt, and a public issuance is called a debt underwriting.
当一个公司想要建立一个新工厂或办公大楼，或收购另加一家公司时，做这些事情的成本通常要比银行贷款能够提供的金额要高。此时，公司就会通过私人或公开的发行债务以筹集资金。私人发行被称作债务的私人配售，公开发行被称作债务包销。
Underwriting
包销
The minimum size of a debt underwriting is $50 million, but most issues are for more than $100 million and a few total over $1 billion. The company engages an investment banking firm to handle the issue. The investment banker performs financial due diligence on the company, advises on the structure of the issue and prepares the legal documents. Then the investment banker underwrites the issue by buying it from the company, to be sold by a syndicate of investment bankers assembled to distribute the issue to their clients.
债务包销的最低数额是50,000,000美元。但大多数的发行超过100,000,000美元，少数总数超过1,000,000,000美元。公司雇佣投资银行事务所来处理发行的问题。投资银行对公司执行财务尽职调查，建议发行结构，准备法律文件。然后投资银行通过从公司购买包销发行，投资银行组合起来向他们的客户分售发行。
Pre-Sale Distribution
售前分布
The investment banker is the lead underwriter and book-running manager of the syndicated offering, and gathers several other investment banking firms to participate either by contributing money to the purchase of the securities from the company or by just participating in the selling group. Those providing money receive management fees on top of the commission, but the selling group only receives the sales commission. Prior to the pricing of the issue the securities brokers at all the participating firms go out to their clients and take orders for the bonds. This is called the pre-sale distribution.
投资银行是主承销商和组合发行的账簿管理人，集合几个其他的投资银行事务所来参加，或通过用公司的资金来购买证券，或通过参加销售集团。那些提供资金的除收取佣金，额外收取管理费，但是销售集团仅收取佣金。
Pricing
定价
Once enough buying interest has been established, the lead underwriter prices the issue according to market conditions at the time of pricing and anticipated secondary market interest. If the issue is oversold, it will be priced slightly rich. If it is difficult to get buying interest, the issue will be priced cheap. After the pricing, all transactions are made final within a few minutes and the back office takes over the receipt of funds and delivery of the certificates.
一旦购买兴趣已经建立，主承销商通过市场条件、当时的价钱、和预期的二级市场利益，给发行定价。如果发行超跌，那么发行价格就略高。如果很难得到购买兴趣，那么发行价格就低。定价后，在几分钟之内最终交易，事务部门接管资金收入和交付证书。
Private Placements
私募
A private placement of debt is usually a smaller issue, under $100 million, that is not syndicated but sold privately to one or more institutional clients of the investment banker. Private placement buyers of this type are generally insurance companies that are buying securities to match specific payout dates, so they don't care that private placements are somewhat illiquid. That means that they are not easily sold into the secondary market.
债务的私募通常是一个较小的发行，在100,000,000美元以下，不是组合，而是私人销售给一个或多个投资银行的机构客户。这种类型的私募购买者通常是购买证券的保险公司为了匹配具体的偿还日期，因此，他们不关心私募是不是有些流动性资金不足。这意味着他们不轻易销售给二级市场。
