Yen

A feeling of cautious optimism surrounds the Japanese economy, according to minutes from the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting in January. This positive mood is encouraging some to suggest that, under the dramatic reforms of prime minister Shinzo Abe, the country is on the right track.

A managing director in public sector DCM has left Mizuho.

ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas investment arm of Indian state-owned oil company ONGC, is tapping the loan market for longer dated debt to replace a bridge raised by one of its subsidiaries.

The leads arranging a syndicated loan of up to $150m for Indiabulls Housing Finance have extended the deadline for commitments.

Electricité de France returned to the yen bond market in style last Friday, as it printed a four-tranche deal that included the longest ever Samurai note and the market’s first green bonds.

Indiabulls Housing Finance has returned to the loans market for an up to $150m facility. The deal is denominated in yen and dollars, and follows a $200m borrowing sealed late last year.

Citic Group has become the first Chinese issuer to tap the Japanese yen market in 16 years, opening the door for borrowers from the mainland to access liquidity in the Samurai market.

In theory, the Bank of Japan’s gargantuan asset buying programme, which forms a central pillar of its quantitative and qualitative easing policy, should transform international capital markets by forcing Japanese investors overseas en masse. But as so often is the case in Japan, theory and practice are very different things.

The Province of Manitoba has printed ¥6bn ($59.3m) of 30 year paper, equalling the province’s longest ever note in the currency.

Mexico is likely to become the first Latin America sovereign to issue a Samurai bond this week after tightening guidance on a three and five year deal.

Panama-based Bladex became the second Latin American issuer to hit the increasingly popular Tokyo Pro-Bond market, whose flexibility is making access to yen easier for issuers.

Since Shinzo Abe was elected as prime minister in December 2012, ‘Abenomics’ has been a buzzword for international and domestic investors alike. Abe’s determination to turn the Japanese economy around, combined with the aggressive style of his hand-picked central bank governor, has brought unprecedented attention to Japan in a time of global volatility. That makes the job of communicating the strengths of the Japanese economy to investors all the more important. GlobalCapital sat down with Eiko Kimata, director for debt management and JGB investor relations at Japan’s Ministry of Finance, on March 11 to find out how investors have reacted to the central bank’s recent move into negative interest rates, how international investors are viewing the potential of the Japanese economy, and how the Ministry of Finance can best approach a tricky funding environment.