I think there are a few more things I should point out, to aid everyone's understanding of the debenture issue:
Risk/Reward:
For the debenture holders, I said that there was practically no risk, assuming CLL remains solvent. They'll get their original investment back plus interest, essentially just as if it was a loan or bonds. But the upside for them is the potential for share conversion, if the company and therefore the stock price performs well. The upside is somewhat limited, of course, because you're talking about locking in profits from $5.00 and up. Conversely, IF the debentures were selling at face value right now, and you knew that the SP actually WAS going to exceed $5.00 by June 2012, you would be smarter to purchase shares at the current price, and see almost 400% appreciation of your investment. But of course, there are variables. Since the debentures are not selling at face value right now, but instead are discounted (I assume, I haven't actually looked at their current price!) that discount takes into account the uncertainty. And the closer we get to maturity, the narrower that discount will become.
Debentures Outstanding:
Didn't management buy back some of the debentures a while ago when the price was quite low? So there probably isn't a full $100m face value still out there, unless I dreamed this. I thought they might have repurchased $10m or so. Wise move, when you have the cash, if the debt is discounted heavily.
