Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group propelled foreign-currency bond sales by Japanese companies to a record for any quarter Monday as the nation¡¯s companies tap deeper overseas markets to finance growth.
The two Japanese lenders priced almost $10 billion of debt in the U.S. currency in total at the start of the week, pushing quarterly foreign bond issuance by Japanese companies to about $54 billion so far in the three months ending June 30, data shows. That is an increase of more than 80% over the year-earlier period and the first time foreign bond sales by Japanese companies have exceeded $50 billion in any quarter, data stretching back to 1999 show.
The quarterly total is poised to climb higher after Panasonic Holdings kicked off a dollar note offering on Tuesday.
The surge in issuance from Japan in overseas currencies is in part being fueled by the depreciating yen, which slid to its weakest level against the dollar since 1986 this week, as issuers can lock in larger sums by swapping the money back into the Japanese currency. The step-up in foreign-currency issuance from Japan is also part of a multiyear trend, driven by climbing local interest rates that have reduced the benefits of raising debt at home, particularly as the nation¡¯s firms boost overseas acquisitions.
The previous quarterly record was in the third quarter of last year at just under $50 billion,?data shows. The figures exclude issuance by Japanese government-owned entities and municipalities that have sold at least another $7 billion in foreign debt markets during the recent quarter, the data shows.
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