Warren Buffett, famously known as the Oracle of Omaha, is steering Berkshire Hathaway toward a second issuance of Samurai bonds this year, signaling the company’s deepening focus on the Japanese market. According to Bloomberg and other sources, Berkshire tapped BofA Securities and Mizuho Securities on Wednesday to underwrite the yen-denominated bond issuance.
Samurai bonds are issued by foreign entities in Japan, aimed at attracting Japanese investors. These bonds, denominated in yen, have interest payments based on Japanese government bond yields. With Japan’s prolonged ultra-low interest rates and a persistently weak yen, the appeal of Samurai bonds to international investors has grown significantly.
Berkshire Hathaway has been consistently tapping into the yen-bond market since 2019. Last year, the conglomerate issued $1.1 billion in yen-denominated bonds in June, followed by another $800 million issuance in November. This year, in April, the company raised $1.7 billion through Samurai bonds, marking its second-largest issuance in this category since its debut in the market.
Berkshire’s broader strategy includes increasing its stakes in Japan’s leading trading firms. The company now holds more than 5% in each of Japan’s top five trading houses: Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Marubeni, Itochu, and Sumitomo. Buffett pointed out in his February shareholder letter that Japan’s trading companies tend to implement more shareholder-friendly policies than their American counterparts.
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