The Maybank "perpetual bonds" are not bonds at all because they are perpetual i.e. no maturity so you never get back your principal.
if this is indeed the definition of "perpetual" bonds, then i think it is not a good deal....
but i am not totally convinced that such perpetual bonds can be equated as preference shares; for one, the latter grants voting rights, bond holders get no such rights...
in the event of bankruptcy, any monies salvaged goes to paying the bond holders first, then any leftovers, if any, are paid to preferred shareholders..so, if after repaying all the bondholders, there is nothing left...then...everybody else, suck thumb....LL... let's face it...bond issues are usually very substantive...as you can see, this Maybank Bond issue is 250K per pop.... do you suppose many people buy 250K worth of shares in one company? besides, bond holders get what they lent on face value; means, lend 250K means company owes 250K... shareholder, preferred or otherwise, get the last value of traded...and as we know, a company that goes bankrupt usually means banana stock value...
one more drastic and critical difference is the liquidity of such bonds... will it be tradeable over an exchange? i doubt it... it may be transferable, but i think it will incur additional admin fees and brokering charges...