Asahi Glass Co. is among firms hurrying to secure cash to redeem maturing convertible bonds, as investors choose to forgo conversion into shares in the stock market slump.
Asahi Glass has JPY 100 bil…
Asahi Glass Co. is among firms hurrying to secure cash to redeem maturing convertible bonds, as investors choose to forgo conversion into shares in the stock market slump. Asahi Glass has JPY 100 billion of bonds, issued in 1993, with equity warrants maturing on 26 December 2008. The company aims to raise funds through commercial paper and other short-term instruments. After carefully evaluating the financial markets, it will then consider offering more bonds or turning to long-term loans. According to the Japan Securities Dealers Association, only about JPY 23 billion in bonds were converted into equities from January to September, far less than the JPY 200-800 billion that occurred through fiscal 2006.