South Korea

LG Display Co unveiled its debut dollar bond on Wednesday, taking home $300m from a green-labelled deal.

South Korea’s financial regulator is planning a series of capital market reforms to loosen its grip on the IPO process, giving a much-needed boost to small and medium-sized companies looking to raise equity. Jonathan Breen reports.

Mirae Asset Daewoo Co became the first securities firm from South Korea to tap the international bond market this week, when it issued $300m on Wednesday.

Shinhan Bank used its position as the first dollar borrower in the market on Monday to lock up $500m, paying just a low single-digit new issue premium despite global volatility.

South Korean bond issuers have defied a volatile market over the past week or so, selling $2.5bn of offshore bonds and giving a rare bit of good news for debt bankers — who admit they are nervous about the future. Addison Gong reports.

Korea Housing Finance Corporation (KHFC) entered the euro market for the first time on Wednesday, where it was met with a warm response for what was also the first ever social covered bond from an Asian borrower.

Korean Air Lines (KAL) closed a $350m secured deal on Tuesday backed by future ticket sales between the US and South Korea, executing the drive-by trade using a credit facility from Shinhan Bank.

An A$500m ($355m) Kangaroo bond from the Export-Import Bank of Korea on Tuesday reaffirmed Australian dollar investors’ appetite for high quality credits from South Korea, amid a fall in global issuance volume in the currency this year.

Temasek Holdings pocketed W902bn ($793m) from its second sell-down in South Korea’s Celltrion this year, after pricing it at the investor-friendly end of the range.

Ion Investments has launched a block sale of South Korea-listed Celltrion stock, targeting proceeds of up to W865bn ($764.6m).

The pricing achieved by Doosan Power Systems on its $300m capital bond is being viewed by some as “against all fundamental logic”, given the strong market technicals for high quality and shorter-dated South Korean paper.

Kookmin Bank issued the first sustainability bond from a South Korean financial institution on Tuesday, raising $300m from a deal that was covered more than six times.