A kicker, also known as a sweetener or wrinkle, is a feature added to a debt instrument that makes it more attractive to potential lenders or investors.
Kickers provide investors with an additional incentive to purchase debt securities (such as preferred stock or bonds) as they increase investors’ expected return on investment (ROI).
Two popular types of stock kickers are convertible bonds and stock warrants.
For real estate investment loans, a common type of kicker is for the borrower to offer the lender a share of the total income or gross rental income received from the investment property.
Hard call protection or absolute call protection is a condition of a callable bond, according to which the issuer cannot exercise the call and redeem the bond before a specified date, usually three to five years from the date of issue.
A harmless warrant is a provision that requires the holder of a bond to return the bond to the issuer if he buys another bond with similar terms from the same issuer.
The high yield bond spread, also known as the credit spread, is the difference between the yield on a high yield bond and a benchmark bond such as an investment grade or treasury bond.
Japanese government bonds (JGB) are bonds issued by the Japanese government that have become a key element in the country’s central bank’s efforts to boost inflation.
The unamortized bond premium is the net difference in the price at which the bond issuer sells the securities, less the actual face value of the bonds at maturity.
A Yankee bond is a US dollar-denominated debt instrument publicly issued in the US by foreign banks and corporations, and sometimes even by governments.