Joining several CEE peers in looking to yield-hungry Japanese investors to help diversify its funding base, Turkey sold an JPY18.4bn ($200m) 20-year Samurai bond it announced on January 31, according to Dow Jones.
The issue is the longest-dated debt the country has ever issued in the Japanese currency, and was priced to yield just 2.68%. While, the ongoing emerging market bond rally, in legion with the current sentiment towards Turkey in the wake of Fitch's upgrade of the sovereign to investment grade, is helping Ankara achieve strong pricing on its debt, that's clearly not the whole picture here. Earlier this month, amid high demand from international investors, Turkey sold a $1.5bn 10-year bond at 3.473%.
The strengthened pricing on the Samurai bond takes into account the difficulties of Japanese investors to find opportunity during the crisis. The liquidity in the markets driven by the Fed and European Central Bank means that the spreads of their common targets in established Western markets struggle to work in yen. 
"Investors have to look outside their previous comfort zone and to expand it," one Tokyo-based banker said late last year when discussing reports of rising interest from CEE in the wake of two Samurai bond issues from Poland.
Source: bne