Accessing Funding through Public Offering of Bonds
Mirae Asset Daewoo, the No. 1 securities firm in Korea in terms of equity capital, is pushing for a public offering of corporate bonds overseas.
According to finance and investment industry watchers, Mirae Asset Daewoo plans to issue US$300 million (340 billion won) worth of corporate bonds this year through overseas public offering. For this, it has already selected lead managers and is discussing the terms and conditions of the bond issue.
Representative managers are Citigroup Global Market Securities, BNP Paribas, and HSBC, and Daiwa Securities and Mirae Asset Daewoo Hong Kong also participate as co-managers. The timing of the bond issue is likely to be coming October after the issuance of the foreign exchange stabilization bonds by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
"We are considering issuing corporate bonds in the form of a public offering overseas to support the company’s increased investment scale,” said an official of Mirae Asset Daewoo in a telephone conversation. “If the final decision is made about the bond issue, we will be the first domestic securities firm to access funding through a public offering.”
Mirae Asset Daewoo plans to issue up to 500 billion won (US$416 million) worth of corporate bonds in Korea on September 12, apart from the overseas bond offering plan.
Accordingly, Mirae Asset Daewoo's issuance of corporate bonds this year is expected to exceed one trillion won (US$833 billion) including the 500 billion won (US$416 million) issued in April.