The Samurai market is back. But so far, it is proving to be a double-edged sword for Asian issuers, as the bond market breaks all records and the loan market experiences investor fatigue.
A bifurcated market has led to $6.49 billion equivalent of Samurai bond issuance to the end of August according to Dealogic figures. This is higher than the previous record-breaking $4.99 billion during the whole of 1996 in the market’s glory days before the Asian Financial Crisis see table 1.
Only $1.15 billion has been issued, however, in Samurai loans so far this year compared to $3.91 billion for the whole of 2018.
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