Convertible Bonds-how to find info

I occassionally am interested in finding a convertible bond for a particular company, but I cannot find a (free) online resource that can tell me whether a convert exists for a specific company (much less provide particulars). I know about quantumonline.com, but unless I'm really missing the search cues, the service mainly provides info on convertible preferreds (not bonds). Any ideas?

A good place to find individual convertible bonds is ConvertBond.com (http://www.convertbond.com), which is run by Morgan Stanley. The site will give you a seven-day free trial, but after that you'll have to pay. For sporadic use, you can pay a daily fee of $10, or you can buy an annual subscription for $200.

Free resources are scarce because convertibles are so thinly traded and many brokers don't understand or follow the sector. That's one reason investing in mutual funds that specialize in convertibles is usually easier than doing it yourself.

(See Should You Buy Convertible Bonds? (http://www.kiplinger.com/basics/investing/bonds/convertibles.html) for more on how these issues work.)

Erin Burt
Associate Editor, Kiplinger.com