Understanding Debenture

A debenture is a type of bond or other debt instrument that is unsecured by collateral. Since debentures have no collateral backing, they must rely on the creditworthiness and reputation of the issuer for support. Both corporations and governments frequently issue debentures to raise capital or funds.

A debenture is a type of debt instrument that is not backed by any collateral and usually has a term greater than 10 years. Debentures are backed only by the creditworthiness and reputation of the issuer.

Both corporations and governments frequently issue debentures to raise capital or funds. Some debentures can convert to equity shares while others cannot.

Similar to most bonds, debentures may pay periodic interest payments called coupon payments. Like other types of bonds, debentures are documented in an indenture. An indenture is a legal and binding contract between bond issuers and bondholders. The contract specifies features of a debt offering, such as the maturity date, the timing of interest or coupon payments, the method of interest calculation, and other features. Corporations and governments can issue debentures.

Governments typically issue long-term bonds—those with maturities of longer than 10 years. Considered low-risk investments, these government bonds have the backing of the government issuer.

Corporations also use debentures as long-term loans. However, the debentures of corporations are unsecured.

Instead, they have the backing of only the financial viability and creditworthiness of the underlying company. These debt instruments pay an interest rate and are redeemable or repayable on a fixed date. A company typically makes these scheduled debt interest payments before they pay stock dividends to shareholders. Debentures are advantageous for companies since they carry lower interest rates and longer repayment dates as compared to other types of loans and debt instruments.

When debts are issued as debentures, they may be registered to the issuer. In this case, the transfer or trading in these securities must be organized through a clearing facility that alerts the issuer to changes in ownership so that they can pay interest to the correct bondholder. A bearer debenture, in contrast, is not registered with the issuer. The owner (bearer) of the debenture is entitled to interest simply by holding the bond.

Redeemable debentures clearly spell out the exact terms and date by which the issuer of the bond must repay their debt in full. Irredeemable (non-redeemable) debentures, on the other hand, do not hold the issuer liable to repay in full by a certain date.

Investopedia