Australia's Telstra meets Japanese bond investors

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SYDNEY, April 11 (Reuters) - Telstra (TLS.AX), Australia's
largest telephone company, is meeting with Samurai bond
investors in Japan, a market source said on Friday.

Daiwa and Nomura are hosting the non-deal roadshows, which
are taking place this week, the source added.

Telstra said earlier in the month it was planning to sell a
Samurai bond debut issue, but did not say when.

The company filed a registration with authorities in Japan
for a 150 billion yen ($1.5 billion) Samurai issue in late
February.

Samurai bonds are yen-denominated bonds sold by foreign
issuers in Japan.

Australian banks were the most prolific issuers of Samurai
bond issues in the first quarter of 2008, raising $2.9 billion
equivalent of bonds, according to Thomson data. With around 60
percent of the market share, Australian issuers came far ahead
of No.2 issuer the United States.

Telstra, rated A by S&P and Fitch and A2 by Moody's, raised
500 million euros ($794 million) of five-year bonds at 190
basis points over swap last week. BNP Paribas and JPMorgan
jointly led the sale.
($1=101.8 yen, 0.63 euros)
(Reporting by Cecile Lefort)