Uruguay has closed the JPY40bn ($493m) Samurai bond it had been marketing in Japan for a week, pricing near the tight end of guidance. The 2021 bond priced at par with a 1.64% coupon, to yield Yen Libor+ 43bp, near the tight end of the 42bp-48bp guidance. The book was heard 2.2x subscribed. As with other recent LatAm Samurai issues, it comes with a 95% guarantee from Japan’s JBIC development bank. “If we consider all of the costs, including the JBIC guarantee, it is pretty much the same as our US dollar curve,” Azucena Arbeleche, director of debt management at Uruguay’s finance ministry, tells reporters. She says the sovereign had a good reception and found the market to be very liquid. The bond was placed with investors including city banks, public banks, insurance companies and regional banks, she says. The ministry has not decided if or how it will swap the proceeds, which are used to pre-fund Uruguay’s future spending needs. Arbeleche says the sovereign would one day like to issue without the JBIC guarantee, as the Japanese market continues to open up to LatAm issuers. “There are candidates for guaranteed transactions, as well as candidates for unguaranteed transactions,” Jorge Arruda, head of LatAm capital markets at Nomura. Arruda says that Nomura is speaking with possible issuers, among sovereigns and quasi-sovereigns, including first-time issuers. As Uruguay has covered this year’s funding needs, Arbeleche explains it will monitor the markets for liability management opportunities. “What comes next is an exchange from US dollar instruments to local currency denominated instruments,” she says. Daiwa and Nomura managed the sale, Uruguay’s first Samurai since 2007. Uruguay is rated BB/Ba1.