Technology News
01/29 23:46
Matsushita Electric Starts Record Japanese Bond Sale (Update1)
By Takashi Ueno
quote.bloomberg.com
Osaka, Japan, Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the largest consumer-electronics maker, began selling 300 billion yen ($2.2 billion) of bonds, Nomura Holdings Inc. said, kicking off Japan's biggest corporate debt sale.
The Matsushita sale, its first since 1994, is needed to repay debt and fund a share buyback that's part of a reorganization of its subsidiaries. The bond sale is 50 percent bigger than the company's last offering, Japan's biggest corporate debt sale at that time.
Matsushita is able to take advantage of demand for high-rated debt after the near-collapse of Daiei Inc., Japan's second-biggest retailer, and the default of Enron Corp., which has sold yen bonds, made investors wary of weaker companies. The company was able to reduce yield it offered investors during marketing.
``It's a rare opportunity to buy long-term debt with such a high credit rating,'' said Masahiro Inoue, a portfolio manager at Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co., who bought the company's 10- year bonds this morning.
The company is selling 100 billion yen each of three-year, five-year and 10-year bonds, said Nomura Holdings Inc., which is handling the sale. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. were retained to assist the offer. |
