Corporate Actions – Advanced

This course covers the mechanics and rationale behind the most common corporate actions encountered in relation to the servicing of equity and debt securities.
Firstly, we explore dividends – the conditions necessary to pay them, the importance of the announcement, ex-dividend and record dates and accounting for them. We also disuss the payment of dividends on cumulative and non-cumulative preference shares.
Next, we focus on SCRIPs and DRIPs, in other words programmes under which shareholders have the choice of receiving dividends in cash or additional shares.
Thirdly, the course explores bonus issues, stock splits and reverse splits, which are undertaken primarily for the purpose of artificially reducing or raising a company’s share price.
Next, we cover actions of a more complex nature, namely rights issues and share buybacks.
We also turn our attention to the the way in which corporate actions impact the parameters of exchange-traded derivatives, such as options.
Finally, we explore some of the most common corporate actions as they relate to bonds – the exercise of call options by the issuer, debt exchange offers and consent solicitations.