The loan market tends to be dominated by lower investment-grade rated corporates, particularly from India over the past year. The bond market, on the other hand, has historically been the preserve of investment-grade rated Asian sovereigns and a handful of higher-rated regional corporates because investors were loath to embrace lower-rated investment grade and high-yield credit ratings from names they were not familiar with.
The way back has been led by Asian sovereigns, which have been increasingly attracted to Samurais for geopolitical and benchmark reasons. So far this year, there have been deals for Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Its six-tranche deal caps a successful diversification strategy, which should now pave the way for more quasi-sovereign issuers such as the country's electricity generator and distributor, PLN, which has filed for a deal and Indonesia Eximbank, which has long been interested in tapping the market too.
In late August, the Baa2/BBB-/BBB- rated credit raised 32 billion on an unsecured basis from a three- and five-year bond offering led by Daiwa, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley, Mizuho, and SMBC Nikko. The shorter tranche was particularly successful, closing three times covered.
Last year was characterised by a win-win situation. Borrowers were able to tap new pools of liquidity, while Japanese banks were happy to move further down the credit and maturity curve to pick up yield at a time of negative interest rates back home.
There have, however, been growing signs of short-term indigestion and investor selectivity, as limited country lines get used up. It may, therefore, take a while for banks to get comfortable with all the new credits that have accessed the market before they open country lines further.
Borrowers consequently now need to work harder to find demand especially at the longer-end of the curve. The yen-dollar basis swap is also no longer as favourable as it was earlier this year: moving to -50bp at the five-year part of the curve.
But it does mean that borrowers are paying more and need to be careful about how often they tap the same funding source. Energy conglomerate NTPC, for example, returned to the market in the space of less than one year.
As a result, it had to pay 10bp more in yen-Libor terms for the $300 million equivalent loan it closed in March compared to the $350 million equivalent one in April last year. This year's 10-year deal also attracted only one bank in general syndication compared to eight in last year's one.
Japanese bankers believe that if Indian credits want to access yen-denominated funding on a regular basis, they need to adopt a longer-term approach that will enable them to penetrate deeper into the market. Reliance Industries is a good example of how this should work.
Its recent upsized $1.85 billion dual-currency term loan, signed in late June, encompassed $500 million equivalent in yen. This was split into two tranches: one with a 5.25-year average life and all-in pricing of 88.5bp over yen-Libor and one with a 5.5-year average life and all-in pricing of 91.5bp.
Two other Japanese banks, however, came on board as mandated lead arrangers in the pre-deal syndication phase for the first time: Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and Norinchukin Bank. The two also each took $75 million to $100 million onto their books, compared with the $20 million to $30 million sized tickets with which Japanese banks had previously felt comfortable.
Reliance attracted six banks at the next rung down too. These banks took up a further $85 million equivalent in paper, which meant that more than 55% of the yen loan ended up being placed in general syndication.
It also bolstered its credentials by taking a step-by-step approach to the market. In 2014 it utilised export credit agency backing from the government-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), before entering the market on an unsecured basis in 2018.
Tatsuya Yasuda, head of international DCM at Nomura, calculates that roughly 80% of international yen bonds (including Samurais) carried a single-A rating or above back in 2015. In 2018, the percentage had dropped to about 50%.
In 2017, the then Ba1/BB/BB+ rated credit managed to close a 60 billion three-year offering with a 1.8% coupon. The private placement deal was supported by JBIC through its GATE facility (Guarantee and Acquisition toward Tokyo market Enhancement).
JBIC rarely ventures into high-yield territory, but Sri Lanka is an obvious candidate to help. The two countries have had an extremely close bilateral relationship spanning nearly 70 years and Japan will be keen to reinforce that at a time when China has been making big inroads into Sri Lanka through its Belt & Road Project.
The same close relationship cannot be said of South Korea and China, both of which have extremely complicated relationships with each other and Japan. During the first half of the year, South Korea had been one of the bright spots of the Samurai bond market.
Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) raised 70 billion from a debut three-year deal in January, which represented the largest ever single tranche corporate Samurai from Asia. Since then, there have issues for Korea Telecom and Korean Airlines, guaranteed by Kexim.
The escalating trade war between South Korea and Japan, however, looks set to curtail further issuance during the final four months of the year. The two countries have displayed increasing hostility towards each other ever since South Korea president Moon Jae-in decided to ignore the painstakingly re-negotiated 2015 agreement covering World War II compensation, not to mention a radar-locking incident with a Japanese plane.
Where China is concerned, issuers have sporadically accessed the yen markets, but historically never felt the need to educate investors, or build long-term relationships because of plentiful liquidity back home. One sector where bankers believe this could change is green finance.
But their appetite is one that Asian borrowers should be able to take advantage of in both dollar and yen funding. That investor engagement further underlines a shift that is taking place in Asian bond and loan markets, although it remains early days.
Interestingly, if you can choose the right game to play, this activity is no longer only wasting time. Aside from having fun, you can also earn money from this. Well, below are some earn-money games you can play on Android smartphones.
Play Gamer is one of the Android games you can utilize to earn money. In general, it is a kind of fund balance generator to earn coins without you having to invite friends. Then, the points collected can be exchanged for real money.
You only need to play games available in the app. The more often you play it, the more points to collect. Moreover, it is if you can win every game you play. Even when winning the game, automatically, the points are exchanged into dollars or any of your currency.
The name of Mobile Premier League or MPL must be familiar enough in the realm of Android fame lovers. MPL is a kind of app that can load numerous online games. There are rewards to get if you win the game and this is the way you can earn money.
Hago is another popular money-earning game you can play. Even it got its popularity in 2010. Until now, it has many active members who play the app every day. Just install the app on your Android smartphone. After the installation process is done, you can enjoy many types of games.
Aside from many game options, there are some other reasons why Hago is very popular. It had some features including the multiplayer feature. It means you can play this online game with other players. Besides, the size is small, making it not spend too much space on your smartphone.
Of course, another reason is that you can earn money from the app. When installing Hago, make sure to also install another app namely Lucky Miner. Lucky Miner helps you during the Hago installation process. Besides, the coin you collect can be exchanged for real money through this app also.
Island King Game is also quite popular in the realms of gamers and online money hunters. The app has been registered with the financial authority so you should not worry about collecting money from it. Yes, it is guaranteed to be 100% legal.
Different from other apps mentioned above, there is only one game in the Island King Game. In the game, you are asked to adventure to establish your island. So that you can move to the higher level faster, you must play the game as often as possible. When your level has been high, coins from the King of Clans can be collected more easily.
Similar to the Island King Game, there is only one gameplay in the app. You are asked to establish a company and run it until you get a profit. The profit of this unreal company is real. Yes, you can exchange it for real money and the app will transfer it to your bank account.
If you are a fan of games like SimCity or Township, make sure not to miss this one. Yes, Point Republic is even more fun than those games as you can earn real money from it. Similar to Market Glory, you are required to earn virtual money and later, you can exchange it for real money to transfer to your bank account.
Although the gameplay is a little bit different, Point Republic also lets you build a company just like Market Glory. Profits you get from the company can be collected and exchanged for money. Of course, this just makes the Point Republic more addictive for gamers.
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