"Companies spin these convertible note deals as if they're...

"Companies spin these convertible note deals as if they're equity. However, when there's no mandatory conversion, first and foremost it's debt. In MCE's case, three year debt at a coupon of 10.5%."

I certainly view it most definitively as debt, and my wish is that the directors see it that way too, to the extent of planning to redeeming if and it when the company's financials permit.

Would that it was a less expensive source of capital, but the alternatives (eg, vanilla equity) would have been even more expensive (which, in itself, is somewhat of a comment about the nature of the investment proposition here).

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