WA MEANS HARMONY -- OR DOES IT?
Japanese Euromarket houses are now feeling happy about inviting each other into their deals, something unheard of 12 months ago. This is wa, Japanese for harmony, a world resonant with connotations of family unity and obedience. Wa is fast becoming a characteristic of the Japanese way of business in the international capital markets.
The Euromarket subsidiaries of the Japanese securities houses and banks have traditionally been fierce rivals. In the past, they've tried to sabotage each other's Eurobond issues by putting in impossibly low grey market bids with the bond brokers. Signing ceremonies have been held in the middle of the night to ensure that one would beat the rest in bringing the first US corporate name to the Euroyen market. In a market that thrives on league tables, nobody has cared more about position than the Japanese.
If all this changed, it would spell trouble for non-Japanese Euromarkets houses - and the signs are that some important things are changing. In the primary market, some syndicate managers go as far as to predict that it won't be long before the first Eurodollar deal with an all-Japanese co-management group.