GMO Yen Bond Spread Widens 52 Basis Points After Cyberattack

A yen bond issued by GMO Internet Group widened 52 basis points from Oct. 20 to Oct. 28 as investors weighed potential earnings damage and customer compensation costs after a subsidiary cyberattack.

The bond, due in June 2031, had a spread of about 174 basis points on Oct. 28, compared with about 122 basis points on Oct. 20. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point, making the increase 0.52 percentage point.

On Oct. 21, a listed GMO cloud-services subsidiary disclosed unauthorized access. It also received a ransom demand of about 8 billion yen (about $50.7 million). Attackers later published data they claimed included customer information.

GMO refused to pay the ransom and plans to compensate customers for losses.