White & Case has advised Qatar Petroleum on its 85 billion yen ($1.09 billion) Samurai bond issuance in Japan, the oil company’s first yen-denominated bond offering and the first ever by a Qatari entity.

The 10-year bond was guaranteed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

Tokyo-based partner Norifusa Hashimoto led the White & Case team, alongside Abu Dhabi partner Sean Johnson and Philip Stopford in London.

“This transaction enables Qatar Petroleum to reach a new class of investors, and shows the strong investor interest in Qatari capital markets issuances, following the recent successes of the State of Qatar’s conventional bond offering in December 2011 and its sukuk offering in June 2012,” said Johnson in a statement.

“We were very pleased to advise Qatar Petroleum on its successful first Samurai bond, which is one of the first Samurais to launch following changes to Japanese regulation in April this year, allowing certain documents to be filed in English rather than Japanese,” said Hashimoto.

Qatar Petroleum’s Samurai bond is its second ever international bond offering. The state-owned company’s only other bond deal was a $650 million 5.579 % notes which matured in May last year.

Kanishk Verghese is North Asia journalist at ALB. Follow us on Twitter:@ALB_Magazine.

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