This summer, Samsung Electronicsdid something rare for an Asian company: it convinced US bond investors to look at it as a high-grade global company rather than a bet on emerging markets.
This might not sound like a huge leap, but only a couple of financial borrowers from Asia have done this before – and it made a big difference in the interest the consumer electronics group is paying on its first US dollar bond.
Western investors have traditionally looked at non-Japanese Asian borrowers from the top down as an emerging markets play first, then through the prism of the strength of the local sovereign, and finally to the company itself.