The pricing of the World Bank's second Yen Global Bond offering was announced this morning. The Yen 225 billion 5-year issue was launched yesterday in the Euromarkets, and the Far Eastern and North American markets simultaneously. The bonds are denominated in Japanese yen and have a 4.5 percent coupon, payable semiannually. They were offered at 99.80 percent, to yield 4.55 percent (semiannual).
There has been strong international demand for the Yen Global Bond, with a broad-based geographical distribution, by now typical of the Bank's Global Bond offerings. The strongest demand came from the Far East outside Japan. In Japan, investor appetite was far stronger than in the last World Bank Yen Global offering, reflecting this issue's yield pick-up over the Japanese Government Bond of the same maturity. In addition, US investors have taken up a larger proportion than last time Yen Global Bonds were offered.
The management group for the issue consisted of Daiwa Securities, Goldman Sachs International Limited and Nomura Securities acting as joint lead-managers, and Bank of Tokyo capital Markets Group, IBJ International plc. J.P. Morgan securities Limited, LTCB International Limited, Morgan Stanley International, Merrill Lynch International Limited, Nikko securities, Norinchukin International plc., and Yamaichi securities as co-lead managers. Additional co-managers for the issue were DKB International, Kokusai Europe Limited, Mitsubishi Finance International plc. Mitsubishi Trust International Limited, New Japan Securities Europe Limited, Nippon Credit International Limited, Sanwa International plc., and UBS Phillips & Drew Limited.
