The big event of last week was Westpac's ¥201 billion Samurai bond issue and simultaneous ¥44 billion Eurobond issue. Westpac raised the equivalent of a staggering $4.3 billion - possibly the largest combined issue ever undertaken by an Australian borrower. The issue was also notable for re-opening the Samurai market, which has been closed since the failure in September 2008 of Lehman Bros.Westpac sold ¥11.8 billion of three-year bonds at swap plus 40 basis points, ¥55.6 billion of five-year floating rate notes at Libor plus 70 bps and ¥133 billion of five-year bonds at swap plus 70 bps. The three-year Eurobonds were also priced at swap plus 40 bps.The funding was not necessarily cheap for Westpac, given that it would have had to add 20 to 30 bps to the cost of funds for the basis swaps from Japanese yen and back to Australian dollars. And then there is the 70 bps for the government guarantee.More details emerged on the ANZ's planned visit to the Samurai market. The five-year Samurai bonds are being marketed with an indicative spread range of 68 to 73 bps with pricing to take place tomorrow. The bank is also said to be planning to sell ¥30 billion of bonds to retail investors later this month.Not surprisingly, National Australia Bank announced on Friday that it has mandated a Samurai bond issue and you can bet the CBA will be next. Last year, the four majors raised more than ¥677 billion in the Samurai market. Commonwealth Bank was active offshore, selling $150 million of five-year Eurobonds and NZ$125 million of three-year Eurobonds. The Australian dollar bonds were subsequently seen priced at swap plus 73 bps in the secondary market. The ANZ raised US$50 million for three years via an EFRN. The ANZ and CBA issues are all government guaranteed.In the domestic market, Investec Australia issued $400 million of three-year, Australian government guaranteed, bonds. The issue was offered in $200 million, fixed and floating rate tranches, yielding 125 bps over swap and bank bills, respectively.Rabobank Australia also came to the market but on the strength of its own triple A ratings, as it did in Europe the week before. The bank offered $200 million of fixed rate bonds and $400 million of FRNs, priced at 130 bps over swap and bank bills. The next day the bank added a further $100 million to each tranche with the pricing unchanged.Reuters reported that AMP Bank privately placed three tranches of government guaranteed notes and bonds and that NAB raised $500 million, government guaranteed. AMP Bank placed $100 million of three-year FRNs at 90 bps over bank bills, $100 million of four-year FRNs at 105 bps over bank bills and $100 million of five-year bonds at 107 bps over swap. NAB raised its funding for five years and paid 75 bps over swap.