South Korea

The Asian block market came to life this month as shareholders jumped at the chance to offload some of their holdings in companies, taking advantage of a rally in the stock market. With a tight window remaining before firms head into blackout period ahead of results season, ECM bankers and investors are set for more deals this quarter. Jonathan Breen and John Loh report.

Industrial Bank of Korea is looking to offload its entire stake in local hypermarket chain E-Mart to raise up to W195.9bn ($172.1m).

South Korea’s Lotte Chemical Corp has netted W215.0bn ($187.9m) after pricing a block sale of treasury shares near the middle of guidance, according to a term sheet seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Korea Development Bank (KDB) has become the latest name from South Korea to join the debt issuance party, sealing a triple tranche offering with two floating rate tranches, and finding $4bn of demand for its deal.

Lotte Chemical Corp is looking to raise up to W223.7bn ($195.0m) through the sale of a block of treasury shares, according to a banker familiar with the matter.

Asia DCM has seen a steady supply of South Korean issuers so far in 2017, with Korea Development Bank becoming the latest to venture out with dollar-denominated bonds.

One of the sons of Lotte Group founder has sold a chunk of his shareholding in Lotte Shopping Co through an accelerated bookbuild, netting W391.2bn ($341.8m) in the process.

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BNY Mellon has appointed an ex-JP Morgan banker as country executive for its South Korea operations, according to a Tuesday announcement.

ING Life Insurance Korea is seeking approval to go public through an IPO, filing a draft prospectus with the Korea Exchange (KRX) on Thursday.

Korea Water Resources Corp (K-water) is preparing to join the queue of issuers from the country selling dollar bond offerings this year, following a three year hiatus.

Toll road operator Korea Expressway Corp is seeking banks for a new dollar deal to launch in April, three years after its last international issuance.