Business Studies

For the purposes of this exercise, assume that you are the manager of a mutual fund specializing in corporate bonds. Your clientele are mostly 45 and older, risk-averse, long-term investors. Remember that there are countless mutual funds your investors can turn to; unless you continuously produce higher returns than other funds without incurring serious risks, your investors will turn elsewhere. Currently your fund includes a wide variety of bonds from different large corporations, but none from the oil and gas sector.
The Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (http://www.woodside.com.au/Pages/default.aspx) is Australia’s largest publicly traded oil and gas exploration and production company and one of the world’s leading producers of liquefied natural gas.???? Woodside has entered into an agreement for the issuance of US$700,000,000 in corporate bonds into the United States 144A bond market. Settlement of the offering is subject to certain customary conditions.
The bonds will be issued by Woodside Finance Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Woodside Petroleum Ltd., and will consist of US$700,000,000 of 10-year bonds with a coupon of 4.6%.
The bonds will be guaranteed by Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Woodside Energy Ltd.
The funds will be used for general corporate purposes including, but not limited to, repayment of some of Woodside’s existing debt, which matures in 2011, as well as the funding of our ongoing capital and exploration program [http://www.woodside.com.au/Investors-Media/Announcements/Pages/Woodside-to-issue-US$700-million-in-corporate-bonds.aspx].
You are now faced with a certain dilemma. You know a good deal about the debt/bond market, but not a whole lot about the oil and gas sector and its financing mechanisms. But your investors follow the news as much or sometimes better than you do, and they’re quite aware that Woodside Petroleum Ltd. is quite a large company. As it is, many of your investors are wondering why you have not included Woodside Petroleum Ltd.’s bonds as part of your mutual fund’s portfolio thus far, and they’re calling this to your attention (bond investors tend to have fairly substantial pots of money, a lot of time on their hands, access to the Internet, often a restless curiosity somewhat offset by a general lack of information about finance and financial markets, and an almost indefinite ability to reach you on the telephone at odd hours of day or night).
You’re going to need to do some research on Woodside Petroleum Ltd. [http://www.woodside.com.au/Pages/default.aspx] including their financial situation as well as their overall strengths as a corporation. You will also need to know something about the economic climate in which the corporation operates, its prospects for the future, and its ability to leverage funds as necessary. Keep in mind that having a strong reputation as an oil and gas company does not mean the returns on their bonds will be higher than bonds from lesser known corporations.
To complete Module 4 Case Assignment, please read the information in the background material, look for more information [search on Google (www.google.com) or Yahoo (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=WPL.AX&ql=1) or any other sources], and then write a 5 to 6 pages report for your professor and clients/investors by responding to the following tasks:
1. Would you choose to invest in the Woodside Petroleum Ltd.’s bond as part of your investment portfolio? Why or why not? If so, what sort of strategy would you pursue?
2. Based on your analysis and findings, would you recommend the Woodside Petroleum Ltd.’s bonds to other investors? Please explain your reasoning.
Place this order with us and get 18% discount now! to earn your discount enter this code: special18 If you need assistance chat with us now by clicking the live chat button.