South Korea

Kookmin Bank is expected to surface later this week with its first euro covered bond which will fund social housing. The deal is to emerge amid mounting concern that diminishing supply, rising redemptions and aggressive central bank buying will cause an unprecedented technical squeeze in the covered bond market.

Unrated Swiss private railway operator Rhätische Bahn, owner of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Bernina railway, made its second stop in the Swiss franc bond market this week, four years after its debut deal.

Syndicate bankers are scrambling to make sense of the covered bond market, where sentiment has been changeable in recent weeks. Amid volatility and small issuance windows, sustainable bonds have proven a safe strategy to ensure successful deals.

Berlin Hyp left ‘a little bit on the table’ with its new green covered bond on Tuesday. The trade was followed by deal announcements from Kookmin Bank and Sparebank Vest Boligkreditt, both looking to issue in sustainable format.

Korean Housing Finance Corporation (KHFC) has launched its second social covered bond of the year in euros, setting the spread for its deal in the middle of its guidance range.

Korea Housing Finance Corp (KHFC) has hired lead managers for a new social covered bond in the euro market. It is its second such deal in the currency this year, and it could face tougher conditions this time.

Drug developer SK Biopharmaceuticals priced its IPO high last Friday, netting W959.3bn ($792m), according to a source close to the deal.

Online casino gaming company DoubleDown Interactive has set the terms for its Nasdaq IPO, preparing the first South Korean listing on a US bourse in nearly a decade.

ESR Cayman, a warehouse construction firm and lessor, is planning to list a real estate investment trust (Reit) in South Korea later this year, according to a source close to the transaction.

Industrial Bank of Korea bagged $500m from a social bond on Monday, with the proceeds pegged to help companies struggling because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

SK Biopharmaceuticals has begun bookbuilding for its up to W959.3bn ($804.9m) IPO. It is set to be South Korea’s first listing in 2020.

Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) returned to the green bond market on Monday, raising $500m on the back of a book that was 10 times oversubscribed.