In recent years， financial markets have become increasingly polarised between growth and security. Investors looking for a medium-to low-risk route to income in-vesting are increasingly turning to the corporate bond market as an alternative to equities and government bonds.

　　Equities and government bonds are well suited to some investors. Younger in-vestors will benefit from equity capital growth because they are generally invest-ing for the longer term and not unduly concerned at the lack of immediate yield. Investors concerned with avoiding risk will be prepared to accept the relatively low yields now available on government bonds.

　　But many investors fall somewhere be-tween these two extremes. Corporate bonds offer an alternative to equities and government bonds， providing some of the benefits of each. With corporate bonds， an investor can opt for a lower risk exposure than with equities but a higher income yield than with government bonds.

　　In Singapore， for example， a govern-ment bond maturing in 2004 with a cou-pon of 3.5% will currently yield about 3.4%.This is to say， for every S$100 of face value， the bond is currently selling for S$100.50， so that the annual coupon of S$3.50 is worth about 3.4% of the actual price.

　　By comparison， the Ford Motor Cor-poration's bond issued in Singapore dol-lars and therefore carrying no currency risk for a Singapore investor also matures in 2004. It carries a coupon of 4.5% but currently sells at slightly below its face value， at around S$99.50 per S$100 of nominalvalue.

　　This means that the yield for an investor is a little higher than the coupon， at around 4.6% of the actual price. The difference between two yields is commonly called the 'spread'. At the moment， as we see， the spread between Ford and Singapore gov-ernment bonds is around 1.2%. This

　　rep-resents the reward to the investor for ac-cepting the somewhat higher risk attached to Ford as opposed to the government of Singapore.

　　This is a wider spread than Ford would expect to pay in the US or Europe. Ford may be willing to pay this extra at present as a means of building goodwill among Singapore investors， which it hopes will be to its benefit in later years.

　　The main disadvantage of corporate bonds is that an investor only indirectly participates in the company's success， through its credit-worthiness， but other- wise willnot benefit from corporate ex-pansion in the way that equity holders will has no participation in the company's suc-cess.On the other hand， absolute risk is lower than for equities because coupon payments cannot be waived and， in the event of a default， bondholders are ranked highly among creditors.

　　However， corporate credit-worthiness is a key factor in assessing the value and risk of corporate bonds. Credit rating a-gencies play an important role in this pro-cess. The two main agencies are Moody's and Standard & Poors. They assign ratings both to entities issuing bonds and to spe-cific corporate bond issues. This gives in-vestors a guide as to their credit quality， which indicates the risk that the terms of the bond will not be fully honoured.

　　Moody's has three levels of prime or investment grade ratings， divided into 10 subsidiary levels， from Aaa， the top Prime-1 rating， to Baa3， the bottom Prime-3 rating. Moody's then has three non-Prime or speculative grade ratings， divided again into 11 subsidiary levels， from Ba1

　　to C. Standard & Poors uses a very similar system， starting at AAA and ending at D， which indicates an issue in distress.

　　Liquidity is also an important factor. Investors should be generally aware that corporate bonds， even in mature markets such as the US and Britain， have fairly limited secondary markets. This is to say， unlike equities or government bonds， they cannot always be sold on easily to other investors. Lack of liquidity tends to be more pronounced in a less developed corporate bond market such as Singapore， and this is a further factor in pushing yields higher for corporates， relative both to the government and to other markets.

　　As the Singapore corporate bond market is relatively new，these few names comprise most of the bonds currently in issue. As the market develops， investors will be offered a wider choice of risk/return combinations. This has been demonstrated in the US where a non-investment grade segment of the corporate bond market has developed， offering investors riskier corporate bond investments at much higheryields.

　　The corporate bond market in Singapore is likely to develop in both the variety of stock available and the liquidity of the secondary market. The development is expected to be strongly demand-driven， with diversified investors increasingly looking to the corporate bond market for yield. Although corporate bonds carry more risk than government bonds， that risk can be controlled to a large extent by credit analysis and other checks on the is-suer and the terms of the bond. In return investors have the opportunity to achieve a good cash income.

　　近幾年的金融市場，在追求增值與安穩(wěn)之間越來越有兩極化的趨勢。為收入而投資，但只接受中低風險者，很多都轉向公司債券，以替代股票和政府債券。

　　股票和政府債券很合一些投資者胃口。年輕投資人士一般從股票的資本增值中獲益，因為他們通常是長線投資，不太在意眼前的收益。要避免風險的投資者，則愿意接受政府債券目前提供的相對低收益。

　　但很多投資者介于兩者之間。公司債券是股票和政府債券的替代品，兩邊的好處都有一點。這類投資的風險不比股票大，收益又高出政府債券。

　　舉例說，在新加坡，一個2004年到期，息票利率為3.5%的政府債券，目前能提供的收益大概是3.4%.也就是說，每100新元票面價值的債券，現(xiàn)售價為100.50元。所以年息如果是3.50元，便是實價的大約3.4%.

　　相比之下，福特汽車公司以新元發(fā)售——因此對新加坡投資者來說沒有匯率風險的債券，也是2004年到期。它的息票是4.5%，不過現(xiàn)售價稍微低過票面價值，票面價值每100新元售99.50新元。

　　這意味著投資者能獲得較政府債券稍微高一點，約為實價4.6%的收益。兩者差距一般稱為利差。在我們看來，目前福特和新加坡政府債券的利差是1.2%左右。這個利差，就是投資者接受了福特債券比新加坡政府債券多出一些風險的回報。

　　如果是在美國或歐洲，福特汽車須支付的利差預料少一點。福特汽車這時愿意多給，可能是想討好新加坡投資者，希望日后有所收獲。

　　公司債券的主要缺點，是投資者只能通過可信貸程度，間接分享公司的成果，而不能像股票持有者那樣，從公司的擴充中獲益。另一方面，這些債券投資者承擔的絕對風險卻又低于股東，因為息票的付款是不能勾銷的，而在公司無法還債時，債券持有人的債權，有很高的優(yōu)先權。

　　不過，要評估一家公司債券的價值和風險，主要因素在于該公司的可信貸程度。信貸評級機構在這個過程中扮演吃重角色。穆迪和標準普爾是主要的兩家機構。它們給發(fā)售債券的公司和個別公司債券評級。這些級別，給了投資者有關信貸素質(zhì)的參考，顯示了債券條款沒有全部被履行的風險有多大。

　　穆迪在優(yōu)質(zhì)或投資級方面的評級有3個。其中，從最高優(yōu)質(zhì)1級的Aaa，到最低優(yōu)質(zhì)3級的Baa3共有10個等次。穆迪的非優(yōu)質(zhì)或投機性的評級也有3個，其下又分11個等次。標準普爾使用大致相同的系統(tǒng)，從AAA到最后表示債券出問題的D.

　　流通性也是一個重要因素。投資者須了解就算是美國或英國這類成熟的市場，公司債券的二手市場也是相當小的。也就是說，和股票或政府債券不同，要轉售給其他投資者并不容易。像新加坡這類公司債券市場開發(fā)度較低的地方，缺乏流通性更為顯著。這也是推動公司債券的收益，使它高于政府債券和其他市場的額外因素。

　　新加坡的公司債券市場預料會得到發(fā)展，以致證券種類更多，二手市場流通性更大。由于越來越多性質(zhì)不同的投資者，為取得收益而投入到公司債券市場，發(fā)展的推動力相信來自強勁的需求。

　　公司債券的風險雖然大于政府債券，但在很大程度上，可借助信貸分析，以及對債券發(fā)售者和債券條款的其他制衡手段加以控制。而投資者則有機會取得不錯的現(xiàn)金收益。