[TOKYO] Berkshire Hathaway priced 90 billion yen (S$628 million) of bonds on Friday (Apr 11), completing the yen deal even as sharp market volatility prompted several Japanese companies to cancel sales.
It was the smallest yen deal by Warren Buffett’s firm since it started tapping the Japanese market in 2019, Bloomberg-compiled data show. The six-part offering had tenors ranging from three years to 30 years.
Buffett’s company sold the yen bonds at a time when global trade clashes sparked by US President Donald Trump’s threat to increase tariffs rattled financial markets worldwide. That’s led to funding costs rising across the board, and a dearth of longer bonds.
The offering is also under the spotlight among investors because the funds raised may be used to increase Berkshire’s stakes in Japanese firms. Indeed, the US company boosted its holdings in Japan’s five biggest trading houses last month, and Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders in February signalled plans to do so.
The billionaire wrote that the five firms including Mitsubishi and Itochu “very successfully operate in a manner somewhat similar to Berkshire itself”, and “as the years have passed, our admiration for these companies has consistently grown”.
His enthusiasm for the Japanese companies caught the attention of global investors, helping attract funds from overseas and lifting the nation’s Nikkei 225 and Topix share indexes to record highs last year. BLOOMBERG
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