Daiwa Ousts Mizuho as Top Samurai Underwriter: Japan Credit

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. topped Mizuho Financial Group Inc. as the biggest manager of Samurai bond sales as the cheapest yen funding costs relative to dollars in almost two years prompted record sales by Korean companies.

Japan’s second-largest securities firm arranged 419 billion yen ($5.44 billion) of the notes by overseas companies in the country this year, or 20.2 percent of the 2.07 trillion yen total, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Sales increased as the extra yield for U.S. corporate bonds over Treasuries, compared with the equivalent for yen debt, widened to 151 basis points on Oct. 4, the most since January 2009, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes. Korean companies borrowed 377 billion yen, Bloomberg data show.