KB Jeon, First Foreign Currency Bond Issuance, Issues $350 Billion Dollar Bonds

Orders Flood in 66 Institutions... KB Securities' Governance and Profitability Overvalued

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] KB Securities has issued dollar bonds worth $300 million (approximately 350 billion KRW).

KB Securities announced on the 26th that it successfully issued these dollar bonds. This issuance marks KB Securities' first foreign currency bond issuance. The bonds have a 5-year maturity with a total amount of $300 million, issued by adding a 95 basis points (1bp=0.01 percentage point) spread over the 5-year U.S. Treasury yield.

KB Securities explained, "Despite recent concerns such as the expected U.S. tapering (reduction of asset purchases), the intensifying bankruptcy worries surrounding China's Evergrande Group, and inflation risks, the bonds were issued with the lowest spread among 5-year foreign currency bonds issued by domestic securities firms, based on our excellent international credit rating."

Investor orders came from a total of 66 institutions, recording valid demand of $1.46 billion. The maximum order before the final price guidance reached about $2 billion. In particular, KB Securities achieved the largest scale among domestic securities firms' issuances priced this year based on valid orders.

By region, investors were allocated 95% from Asia and 5% from Europe. By type, allocations were 50% to asset management companies and funds, 31% to banks, 18% to insurance companies, and 1% to private banking (PB). Major Asian insurance companies and financial institutions, as well as large overseas asset management firms, participated.

Regarding this, KB Securities explained that as a securities firm affiliated with a financial holding company (KB Financial Group), with its parent company holding 100% ownership, its excellent governance structure, outstanding profitability as a domestic mega investment bank (IB), and high global credit ratings (S&P A-, Moody's A3) had a significant impact.

A KB Securities official said, "Despite recent concerns related to the U.S. and China in the international financial markets, our excellent governance and stable profit-generating capabilities were recognized by investors from Asia and Europe, enabling us to successfully issue bonds at a level 30 basis points lower than the initial price guidance."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.