IT'S AMAZING THE effect a World Cup can have. Suddenly
borrowers from all points of the globe are deciding that there is
only one place to be concentrating their investor marketing
activities in June: Japan. "It's unreal," says a senior banker at a
leading Japanese bank in London. "The number of borrowers saying
they happen to be in Tokyo in June and could we fix up some
meetings for them is just amazing."
It is doubtful that there will be enough seats in Japan's gleaming
new sports stadiums to accommodate the demand for tickets from
CFOs, treasurers, investor relations officers and all the attendant
retinue of the capital markets roadshow circus. It is equally
doubtful that the upshot of this marketing hubbub will be to
encourage demand from Japanese investors for any but a handful of
very highly rated foreign borrowers.
In the last year, Japanese investors have had...
