South Korea

Asia's dollar bond market reopened on Wednesday amid volatility around the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus. But debt bankers in the region are cautiously optimistic about the state of the market.

Korean Housing Finance Corporation (KHFC) issued its first €1bn-sized covered bond and first negative yielding Asian covered bond on Wednesday. The strong reception was in keeping with two German Pfandbriefe also issued this week by Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank (Dapo) and Sparkasse Pforzheim Calw.

Korean Housing Finance Corporation (KHFC) issued its first €1bn-sized covered bond on Wednesday and priced the deal inside fair value. At the same time, Société Générale issued a €1bn 10 year green covered bond flat to its curve with eye-catching demand.

Green bond volumes reached a record level in 2019 and market participants think the sector is poised for another blow-out year. Korea South-East Power Co (Kosep) and ReNew Power Private gave a further boost to Asia’s growing green bond market this week, selling $750m of notes between them. Morgan Davis reports.

Korea South-East Power Co (Kosep) and ReNew Power Private gave a further boost to the growing green bond market on Tuesday.

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Daewoo has been ordered to pay $700,000 after a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission investigation found one of its traders had engaged in spoofing.

South Korean steel company Posco made a blockbuster return to the debt market on Monday, raising $940m from dollar investors and €500m from the European market. The peak order book of about $5.75bn for the dollar portions reflected investors’ eagerness to take on investment grade risk.

Ten more Asian issuers rushed to the dollar bond market on Monday, further adding to the record debt issuance seen in the region last week.

South Korean credit card company Hyundai Card has put together a syndicate team for its IPO, which is expected to value the company at around $2bn.

Lagos-headquartered multilateral finance institution Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) signed a $140m-equivalent syndicated Kimchi term loan facility with Shinhan Bank — its first Korean-focused tool, as the bank diversifies its funding sources.

South Korean heavy industry company Doosan Infracore Co sold a $300m three year bond on Tuesday, helped along by a guarantee from Korea Development Bank.

South Korean steel company Posco checked every box for investors with its $500m bond issuance on Monday. Even though the deal offered no new issue premium and pricing was tightened aggressively, buy-side support did not waver, said bankers.