Large-Scale IPOs and Paid-In Capital Increases Halted... Corporate Fundraising Down 30% in August

Direct Corporate Financing Performance in August

Last month, the amount of funds raised by domestic companies through the issuance of stocks and corporate bonds decreased by more than 30% compared to the previous month. Due to the base effect from large-scale initial public offerings (IPOs) and paid-in capital increases in the preceding month, the decline in stock issuance alone reached over 80%.

Financial Supervisory Service building in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

According to the "Direct Financing Performance of Companies in August 2025" released by the Financial Supervisory Service on the 22nd, the total amount raised through public offerings of stocks and corporate bonds by companies last month was 19.5158 trillion won. This represents a decrease of 8.7326 trillion won (30.9%) compared to the previous month.

The amount of stock issuance in August stood at 886.2 billion won, an 81.6% drop from the previous month. This is attributed to the base effect from large-scale paid-in capital increases by Hanwha Aerospace and POSCO Future M, as well as the Daehan Shipbuilding IPO that took place in July. In August alone, there were 8 IPOs totaling 296.8 billion won and 11 paid-in capital increases totaling 589.4 billion won. A Financial Supervisory Service official explained, "With no large-scale IPOs, small and medium-sized IPOs focused on KOSDAQ listings were predominant. Although the number of paid-in capital increases rose, the total amount issued sharply decreased due to the impact of large-scale paid-in capital increases in the previous month."

The amount of corporate bond issuance, including general corporate bonds, financial bonds, and asset-backed securities (ABS), also declined to 18.6296 trillion won. This is a decrease of 20.5% from the previous month and 5.5% from the same month last year. As a result, the total outstanding balance of corporate bonds as of the end of August was 728.2761 trillion won, up 2.6873 trillion won (0.4%) from the previous month.

Specifically, the issuance of general corporate bonds in August was limited to 11 cases totaling 862 billion won, a decrease of 2.116 trillion won (down 71.1%) from the previous month. In detail, the proportion of corporate bonds issued for refinancing purposes slightly increased, while the proportion issued for operating purposes slightly decreased.

Financial bonds amounted to 16.9409 trillion won, down 2.421 trillion won (12.5%) from the previous month. While financial holding company bonds (1.96 trillion won) increased by 460 billion won (30.7%) compared to the previous month, bank bonds (6.0559 trillion won) and other financial bonds (8.925 trillion won) decreased by 691.3 billion won (10.2%) and 2.1896 trillion won (19.7%), respectively. In the case of other financial bonds, all categories-including credit card companies, installment finance companies, securities companies, and other financial institutions-recorded decreases compared to the previous month.

ABS also dropped by 268.3 billion won (24.5%) from the previous month, totaling 826.7 billion won. For primary collateralized bond obligations (P-CBO), a type of ABS issued with credit enhancement from institutions such as the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund to facilitate financing for mid-sized and small companies, there were no issuances in the previous month, but in August, 4 cases totaling 242.2 billion won were issued.

The total issuance of commercial paper (CP) and short-term bonds in August was 133.9838 trillion won, a decrease of 4.8816 trillion won (3.5%) from the previous month. While CP issuance amounted to 38.1824 trillion won, down 17.9%, short-term bonds increased by 3.7% to 95.8014 trillion won. As of the end of August, the outstanding balances of CP and short-term bonds stood at 226.2411 trillion won and 76.2368 trillion won, respectively.

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