The world’s biggest retailer has looked to the East to prise open financial markets in the grip of the credit crunch. Wal-Mart, the giant US supermarkets group, has sold Y100bn of samurai bonds worth around $930m. Not only is it the largest such issue by a non-financial company this year, it reinforces the 2008 trend for foreign multinationals to tap the Japanese investment community. The issuing of samurai bonds – paper sold by foreign institutions to Japanese investors – is up by around 50% this year by value, making it the mst successful year for the securities since 2000.
