Sushi Bond

Sushi bond is a type of eurobond issued by a Japanese company outside the Japanese market and denominated in a currency other than the yen. Most often Sushi bond is issued in USD. It is interesting to note that Sushi Bonds are somewhat the opposite of Samurai bonds which are issued by foreign companies in yen for the domestic Japanese market.

This type of paper is considered to be a national Japanese bond. In most cases, institutional investors become the holders of such bonds, but the bond is also available to other market participants both in the primary and secondary markets, while most of the investors are local. This ratio is explained by the fact that, according to Japanese law, there are restrictions on the purchase of foreign bonds for institutional investors.

Sushi bonds are placed for both short and long term. The interest rate is expressed as a fixed coupon. The advantage of sushi bonds is that this type of instrument allows the investor to diversify his portfolio by legally adding foreign currency issues into it. Investors turn their attention to this type of bonds when the yen weakens. At the same time, the issuer has access to inexpensive (re)financing of debt obligations in a more attractive foreign currency.