South Korea

Kookmin Bank has become the first issuer from South Korea to sell an international public bond to combat the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. While virus-response deals are still just a tiny part of Asia’s debt market, bankers say it is set to grow.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea jumped on the floating rate note bandwagon on Monday, raising $700m from the market. It also added a euro tranche with a green label to its transaction.

SK E&S, a South Korean energy company, has raised HK$11.55bn ($1.49bn) by selling most of its shares in China Gas Holdings near the top of the marketed range.

South Korea's Shinhan Bank raised $500m from a Formosa bond on Wednesday, taking advantage of the strong interest from Taiwanese investors for its transaction. The borrower paid just 20bp in new issue premium.

Infrequent issuers are slowly returning to the Swiss franc market. During the past week, Eurofima brought its first Swissies deal in six years, while biotech firm Lonza printed its first bond in any currency since 2017.

The controlling shareholder of South Korean entertainment company Studio Dragon raised W166.1bn ($136.2m) this week after selling a portion of its stake.

Korea Development Bank raised $500m in a floating rate bond on Tuesday, opening the international debt market for other South Korean issuers.

South Korea's Shinhan Bank is hoping to sell a public dollar bond in April, following a virus-linked $50m private placement this month.

A trio of South East Asian issuers have visited the Hong Kong dollar market in the last two weeks, as a move in the basis spurred demand. Among the issuers was Korea’s state-owned mining company Korea Resources Corporation (KORES), which made its debut in the currency and in the MTN format on Monday.

Market participants should be braced for political volatility as the world comes close to experiencing a pandemic.

Big Hit Entertainment, manager of popular K-pop boy band BTS, has mandated four firms to run its IPO, according to a banker working on the deal.

Korea Development Bank raised $1.5bn from the bond market on Monday as investors showed strong support for the Aa2/AA/AA- rated issuer.