South Korea

A private equity investor sold down its stake in South Korea’s Celltrion Healthcare on Tuesday evening to raise W401.3bn ($356.4m), with the shares so highly coveted that all orders had to be reined in aggressively.

Kakao Games, the gaming arm of South Korean internet conglomerate Kakao Corp, has pushed back its IPO until 2019 following a change in its priorities.

South Korean low-cost carrier Air Busan has filed preliminary documents with Korea’s stock exchange for the go-ahead to launch its IPO.

The Republic of Korea ended up with a peak order book of a whopping $9.5bn for its $1bn dual-tranche issuance on Thursday, as global market headwinds proved a boon.

South Korea’s Air Busan could launch an IPO of at least W100bn ($89m) by the end of the year, said a banker on the trade.

Korea Water Resources (K-Water) has issued a Sfr200m five year Swiss franc bond, confirming South Korea as the biggest source of foreign bond issuance in the currency.

Deutsche Bank taps Ngan for ECM — Citi names first BRI head — Li emerges at Citic — Morgan Stanley promotes in SEA — Nomura hires for Korea DCM

South Korea’s securities regulator waved through Hyundai Oilbank’s billion-dollar IPO plans at a preliminary screening on Monday.

Nomura has hired Jin-goo Kim as head of debt capital markets for Korea.

Shinhan Financial Group Co’s debut dollar Basel III additional tier one (AT1), priced on Tuesday, sparked a debate between Asian bankers, analysts and investors. The deal was rare, being issued through the bank’s holding company rather than using the opco structure which is much more common in Asia. That left many wondering what premium, if any, issuers must pay for holdco deals, writes Addison Gong.

Shinhan Financial Group Co on Tuesday issued its debut dollar Basel III additional tier one deal at the holding company level, becoming one of the very few Asian issuers to have done so. But bankers, analysts and investors were split on whether and how much the holdco premium was because of a lack of precedents in Asia.

South Korean internet provider SK Broadband Co. hit the dollar bond market on Monday, taking advantage of the stable backdrop for a $300m trade.