Monday, October 27, 2008

Yen Based Acquisition Spree on the Way?

The Yen has gained dramatically over the past few weeks. This has been especially true against the Pound, gaining an unbelievable 25% over the past month as the Yen carry trade unwinds.
This makes the performance of Japan's Nikkei 225 equity index distorted (it is down 35% over the past month). If one were to look at the Nikkei 225 against the FTSE in relative terms (i.e. in Pounds), we see that the Nikkei 225 is significantly outperforming the FTSE 100.
If the Yen continues to strengthen, I am curious to see if Japanese companies / investors will take advantage of the relative cheapness of non-Yen denominated companies, which appear to have value in local currencies, but VERY cheap in Yen. Is there a Japanese acquisition spree around the corner?

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