IFR’s Japanese ECM roundtable, which took place in Tokyo on May 19, covered a wide range of subjects, from general sentiment in the market to prospects for equity capital markets issuance and key market drivers and themes.
Even though the Japanese economy continues to show signs of weakness, participants were relatively upbeat.
Japanese corporate earnings are holding up and the market has remained if not immune to global market volatility, then at the very least removed from many of its direct causes. One of the issues remains relative lack of supply. The IPO and convertible pipelines remain thin, even though domestic and international demand remains robust.
The expectations are that equity issuance for purposes of balance sheet repair will give way in 2011 to more event-driven and expansionist issuance patterns, for example to finance M&A by Japanese corporates of international competitors at a time of weakness, certainly in parts of Europe.
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