| IFR

Japan DCM Roundtable 2012

IFR’s Japan debt capital markets roundtable, held in Tokyo on May 15, found market participants in pensive but upbeat mode. The European sovereign debt crisis is being scrutinised very carefully, but its direct impact on Japanese debt market activity has been relatively marginal. Ten-year JGB yields at just 79bp in early June, a couple of weeks after IFR’s roundtable and yen/dollar at 79, tell their own story.

To purchase printed copies or a PDF of this report, please email leonie.welss@lseg.com and shahid.hamid@lseg.com

Japan DCM Roundtable 2012: Participants

GEN NAKAHARA Bank of America Merrill Lynch Gen Nakahara is Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets at Merrill Lynch Japan. He joined Merrill Lynch Japan in 1999 from the-then Bank of Tokyo and Tokyo-Mitsubishi Securities, Mr Nakahara has held several senior positions in Merrill’s debt capital market business, where he has led various DCM deals across various market segments. Hidenobu Shirota Daiwa Securities Hidenobu Shirota is Head of Debt Capital Markets at Daiwa Securities. Since joining Daiwa in 1987, Mr Shirota has arranged various...

Japan DCM Roundtable: Part 1

KEITH MULLIN, IFR:Welcome to the IFR Japan DCM Roundtable. Before we get into the detailed themes of debt capital markets, I think it would be a good idea to get a brief introduction to the fixed-income market from Mr Tokushima. KATSUYUKI TOKUSHIMA, CHIEF FIXED INCOME ANALYST, NLI RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Thank you. As you know, interest rate levels have remained extremely low, with 10 year government bond yields dropping again below 0.9%. Credit spreads are also extremely tight, especially munis and local agency bonds. Of course, spreads and...

Japan DCM Roundtable: Part 2

IFR: MR Yoshida, Are you getting compensated adequately for the risk you’re taking in the absence of a lot of supply. What are your thoughts around the market today? MITSUHIRO YOSHIDA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TREASURY AND INVESTMENT DEPARTMENT, DAIWA NEXT BANK: Well, to start with Europe as Mr Hayashi has said, looking at Japanese interest rates as well as the impact on domestic issuers, there is no real impact. However in this cycle, European issuers are somewhat more cautious especially from Southern Europe for example. Even in the EU there is...

Japan DCM Roundtable: Part 3

IFR: MR Suzuki I know you have some thoughts on this so perhaps you would like to share them with us? KATSUMASA SUZUKI, MORI HAMADA & MATSUMOTO: Legally speaking, the Pro-Bond market is something really new and innovative. No disclosure based on the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law is needed. If you write that you have already issued a Japanese securities report, that would suffice. If you look at the example of ING, just like how it’s done in Europe, the offering circular and the programme circular would suffice as documents. In that...

Japan DCM Roundtable: Part 4

IFR: I’m conscious we’re coming to the end of our time but I did want to pick up on the place of electric power companies in the Japanese bond market. MR Shirota, where will power companies fit into the Japanese capital markets landscape going forward? HIDENOBU SHIROTA, DAIWA SECURITIES: For power bonds and bond issuance by the power companies, the government is quite involved and it’s not a situation that the issuers themselves can control, certainly in the case of Tepco. The power companies were issuing bonds on a constant basis, which has...