Lowest in 6 Years

Stock issuance through IPOs increased 6.6 percent on year in 2019.

Last year, as the stock market slumped, the amount of funds raised through stock issuance decreased by more than 40 percent from 2018.

Stock issuance in 2019 reached 5,317.2 billion won, down 40.2 percent from a year earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service said on Jan. 28. This is the lowest figure in six years since 5,202 billion won worth of stocks was issued in 2013. Stock issuance through IPOs stood at 2,467.7 billion won, up 6.6 percent from the previous year. IPOs by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) increased sharply, while the amount of shares issued through capital increases plummeted 56.7 percent to 2,849.5 billion won.

The KOSDAQ market had 95 IPOs worth 2,080.4 billion won, dwarfing the KOSPI market with 7 IPOs worth 387.3 billion won. IPOs by SPACs totaled 266.4 billion won in 30 cases, up nearly 50 percent from 155.2 billion won in 20 cases in the previous year.

increases with consideration amounted to 1,722.2 billion won (18 cases) in the KOSPI market, 1,008.8 billion won (32 cases) in the KOSDAQ market and 118.5 billion won (four cases) by unlisted companies.

In the meantime, corporate bond issuance amounted to 170,182.7 billion won in 2019, up 5.8 percent from the previous year. By type, general corporate bonds rose 27.1 percent to 45,036.2 billion won, and financial bonds inflated 0.7 percent to 109,902.9 billion won. Asset-backed securities (ABSs) shrank 7.2 percent to 14, 973.6 billion won.

By fund use, operating funds stood at 23,258.1 billion won, accounting for 51.3 percent, followed by refining funds (37.1 percent) and facility funds (11.6 percent). By credit rating, AA-grade or higher funds were 31,105 billion won (69.1 percent), A-grade funds accounted for 24.7 percent, and BBB-grade funds below 6.2 percent. Meanwhile, commercial papers (CPs) amounted to 388,843.8 billion won, a 9.9 percent increase from the previous year, and short-term bonds increased by 0.5 percent to 1,123,162.7 billion won.

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