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Finbarr Flynn

BUSINESS

Sep 29, 2015

Japan’s cheap debt, aging population prompt ex-banker to shift focus

Saburo Nishiura is using Japan’s record-low borrowing costs to turn the nation’s shrinking population to his advantage.

BUSINESS / Companies

Aug 24, 2015

To Nomura, Fannie and Freddie are bright spot in struggle abroad

Nomura Holdings Inc. is doggedly expanding in a U.S. bond market that pays fees as low as 0.003 percent, even as it slashes its number of employees in London and one of its biggest shareholders says to get out of unprofitable overseas businesses.

Japan Times

BUSINESS / Markets

Aug 6, 2015

Mizuho’s Wall Street itch revealed in huge Actavis deal

When Actavis was preparing to buy Allergan, it gave Mizuho Financial Group Inc. a weekend to decide if it wanted to help come up with $46 billion in loans to back the deal, which had been code-named Project Fruit Basket.

BUSINESS / Companies

Jul 9, 2015

SMBC Nikko aims to hire rare experts to manage riskier bank debt

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. is seeking as many as six new hires for a team specializing in underwriting bonds issued by banks that would insulate taxpayers from costs if the lenders later fail.

BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS

Jul 7, 2015

Sharp’s future relies on Apple after Japan banks extend lifeline

Sharp Corp. forked over some of its equity to banks last week after defaulting on debt to the lenders, winning a new lease on life that leaves it dependent on their goodwill and the support of Apple Inc., its biggest customer.

Japan Times

BUSINESS / Markets

Jul 2, 2015

Mega-banks plan riskier bond sales up to ¥4 trillion

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. plan to bolster their balance sheets by introducing bonds that offer investors enhanced returns at greater risk.

Japan Times

BUSINESS / Companies

May 13, 2015

Toshiba default risk surges most in Japan on accounting probe

An accounting probe of Toshiba Corp.’s infrastructure and energy projects caused its default risk to jump the most in Japan, just as the creditworthiness of Sharp Corp. and Sony Corp. had been improving.

BUSINESS / Markets

Apr 30, 2015

Investors seek out risky U.S. loans in throwback to pre-crisis days

Japanese investors are plowing back into the same types of risky U.S. corporate-loan investments that caused them losses during the 2008 financial crisis.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Apr 16, 2015

Bubble-era missteps shape Tokio Marine’s property strategy

Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., one of the nation’s oldest insurers, is joining its Chinese peers in investing in property overseas — but with a twist.

BUSINESS / Markets

Feb 23, 2015

Blackstone draws Tokyo junk investors amid warnings of froth

Blackstone Group LP filled a Tokyo ballroom earlier this month with locals seeking riskier U.S. loans as regulators in New York try and avert a credit bubble.

Japan Times

BUSINESS / Economy

Jan 27, 2015

Nomura says ‘Abenomics’ more likely to derail amid doubt over tax pledge

Nomura Holdings Inc. says the probability that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policies will end badly is increasing.

BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS

Dec 22, 2014

Refiners Idemistu and Showa Shell in talks for tie-up

Shares in Japanese refiners surged on Monday after two of the largest said they were discussing a tie-up, as falling demand for fuels spurs the industry to consider consolidation.

BUSINESS / Markets

Oct 22, 2014

Ebola raises airline bond risk, similar to SARS scare

The bond risk of ANA Holdings Inc. rose the most of any company in Japan as the spread of Ebola to two health workers in the U.S. rekindled memories of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2002 and 2003.

BUSINESS / Economy

Sep 5, 2014

‘Abenomics’ at risk as firms put brakes on spending, hoard their cash

Japanese companies from NTT Docomo Inc. to Honda Motor Co. are putting the brakes on spending as they pile up cash, showing the challenge Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s new Cabinet faces in reviving the economy.

BUSINESS

Aug 29, 2014

Yen at 120 needed to fuel inflation, UBS exec says

The new chief investment officer for Japan at UBS AG’s wealth management division likens the nation to a man with $1.2 million in debt who is spending all his $53,000 salary and still borrowing $40,000 a year.

BUSINESS / Markets

Aug 21, 2014

Deutsche Bank lays seeds for future with warrants in Japan

Deutsche Bank AG is helping smaller Japanese companies less able to access the bond market raise money using warrants, as it searches for investment banking clients to generate future business.

BUSINESS / Markets

Jul 31, 2014

Loan funds lure companies missing out on Abe rebound

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s stimulus helps push banks’ lending rates under 1 percent, funds are targeting a debt market paying 10 times that.

Japan Times

BUSINESS / Companies

Mar 14, 2014

Automakers luring Japan’s interest-hungry banks to Mexico

Investments by Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. that look set to make Mexico the biggest car exporter to the U.S. are giving Japanese banks a chance to escape from the world’s lowest yields.

Japan Times

BUSINESS / Companies

Jan 22, 2014

BOJ misfire seen in regional banks’ turn to aircraft loans

Chugoku Bank Ltd. wants to get into the global airline debt market after loans to local businesses fell for a fourth straight year.

Japan Times

BUSINESS / Companies

Dec 17, 2013

Tepco bonds a safe bet now: Nomura

Nomura Holdings Inc. is urging investors buy Tokyo Electric Power Co. bonds after a report that the government plans to cap the utility’s cleanup costs at the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

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