The fastest-growing part of the global corporate debt market, samurai bonds, has come to a standstill since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. became the first borrower to default on the securities since Argentina in 2002.
Deutsche Bank AG, Societe Generale SA and National Grid Gas PLC canceled sales of yen bonds issued by overseas borrowers in Japan after Lehman filed for bankruptcy Sept. 15. The investment bank's collapse left Japanese investors holding ¥195 billion of its debt.
"The Lehman shock is fatal to the samurai bond market for now," according to Koyo Ozeki, head of Asia Pacific credit research at the Tokyo unit of Pacific Investment Management Co., manager of the world's biggest bond fund. "Investors believed that Lehman and others were too big to fail."
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