RAKUTEN Group boosted a junk bond sale to US$2 billion as the debt-laden Japanese company attracted investors with a yield that is significantly higher than similarly rated debt.
The conglomerate priced the five-year notes to yield 9.875 per cent, according to information from a source familiar with the matter. That is about three percentage points more than comparable bonds.
The cost to insure Rakuten’s debt against non-payment fell, and its shares extended gains, as investors responded positively to the sale, which increased from the original amount of US$1.25 billion.
The company turned to the US high-yield markets for the second time this year as it tackles a wall of debt maturing over the next two years. The firm said this week it will consider combining its financial units, fuelling gains in its shares on speculation the move would increase synergies and boost value. Rakuten has posted losses for five straight fiscal years due in part to an ill-timed move into the mobile business.
“It is an expensive deal, so it will be bad for Rakuten’s profit-and-loss statement, but it shows that its credit risk is calming down, and that is a good thing,” said Taketoshi Tsuchiya, chief executive officer of Tsuchiya Asset Management.
A spokesperson for Tokyo-based Rakuten declined to comment on the specific terms or the purpose of the bond issue.
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Proceeds from the bond sale will be used to redeem or repurchase Rakuten’s senior notes due in 2024 or later, the source familiar with the offering said. The company has the equivalent of US$4.6 billion of bonds in yen and US dollars maturing by June 2025, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Credit-default swaps on Rakuten’s bonds tightened around 42 basis points to about 388 basis points on Thursday (Apr 4) morning, a trader said. It would be the biggest daily drop since mid-February, according to CMA data. The company’s shares rose 0.4 per cent, extending gains to 37 per cent so far this year, more than double the Topix index.
A sweetener for investors was that Rakuten’s offering promised a much higher yield than other similarly rated BB notes. The average yield-to-worst on bonds with this rating is 6.63 per cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The yield on the latest offering is still lower than the 12.125 per cent offered by Rakuten to sell US$1.8 billion of notes in January – a record for a listed Japanese firm issuing US dollar bonds. BLOOMBERG
