Korea Investment raises $600 mn in first foreign currency bond issue

Korea Investment & Securities Co. raised $600 million in its first foreign currency bonds at lower-than-planned interest rates on strong demand.

The brokerage on July 12 issued $300 million worth of three-year Reg S bonds, issued in the Eurobond market for international investors, and $300 million worth of five-year Reg S bonds, according to the investment banking industry.

The three-year and the five-year bonds were sold at 1.1 percentage points and 1.35 percentage points higher than the three- and five-year US Treasury yields, respectively. The spreads were narrower than Korea Investment’s initial guidance of plus 1.4 percentage points and 1.65 percentage points as it received $3 billion worth of orders in the bookbuilding.

The sale came as Korea Investment needs dollars to increase overseas investments.

Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Agricole and Korea Investment & Securities Asia Ltd. underwrote the bond issues.

Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor's (S&P) rated Korea Investment at Baa2 and BBB, respectively.

Before Korea Investment’s latest bond issuance, Mirae Asset Securities was the only South Korean brokerage that sold corporate bonds in dollars.

Write to Hyun-il Lee at hiuneal@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.