Falling share prices in the banking sector especially interfered with several high-profile merger plans, and shareholders in bank stocks and owners of securitisations all waited nervously to see if their assets would be hit by fallout from the US subprime loans problem. Nonetheless, there were many reasons for market participants to be cheerful as overall volumes of announced M&A and DCM activity increased, and some pioneering Japanese firms consolidated domestically or sought to expand overseas. Euromoney’s inaugural Japan deals of the year highlights the year’s outstanding deals, chosen because they were well-executed, because they were especially bold or unusual in concept, and because they exemplify expected trends in capital markets in the near future.
The Euromoney Japanese Digest has published a comprehensive list of deals of the year. The full list of winners is:
Best M&A deal (Japanese target): Permira’s acquisition of Arysta Lifescience
Best M&A deal (Japanese acquirer): GCA Holdings’ acquisition of Savvian (see GCA reaches out to buy US peer, Euromoney, February 2008)
Best M&A deal (Japanese target and Japanese acquirer): Isetan’s acquisition of Mitsukoshi
Best IPO deal: Sony Financial Holdings
Best equity follow-up deal: Millea Holdings
Best equity-linked deal: Resona Holdings convertible preference share
Best yen bond deal: City of Yokohama
Best international bond deal: East Japan Railway Co.