Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Sells $1.2 Billion of Yen Debt After Big Japan Bets

(Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold 164.4 billion yen ($1.2 billion) of bonds on Friday, just days after the billionaire investor made headlines by saying he’d increased holdings in Japanese trading houses.

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The US conglomerate’s five-part bond deal included notes as short as three years, according to an email from Mizuho Securities Co., one of joint book-runners on deal. The longest tenor, maturing in 2053, comes with a 2.325% annual interest rate.

Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway is one of the largest overseas issuers of yen debt. It lured investors with stronger credit ratings from Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings than the credit assessors give to the Japanese sovereign.

While credit spreads on yen corporate bonds have climbed this year on bets that the Bank of Japan will tighten monetary policy under new Governor Kazuo Ueda, all-in corporate borrowing costs are still some of the lowest in the world.

The proceeds from the offering will be used for general corporate purposes, including refinancing some debt, according to the issuer in a filing earlier this month. A 56.3 billion yen bond of Berkshire Hathaway matures Friday.

The US company, which Buffett took control of in 1965, surprised Japanese markets in 2020 when it bought shares in local trading companies after pricing one of the largest-ever yen bond deals by an overseas issuer.

Shares of Japan’s major trading houses jumped Tuesday after Buffett told the Nikkei newspaper that Berkshire had raised holdings in them to 7.4% from about 5% in 2020. Buffett said he was “very proud” of the investments, in a published transcript of the interview.

He added that while he doesn’t have a stake in other major Japanese companies, “there are always a few I’m thinking about,” Nikkei reported.

Also read: Buffett’s $4.5 Billion Japan Gain Spurs Hunt for More Bargains