Seoul, Jan 25 (IANS) South Korean companies’ direct financing through issuing stocks and bonds hit a new high last year due to a surge in corporate debt sales, a financial watchdog said Wednesday.
Corporate financing through public offers such as equity issuance and bond sales reached a record 143.39 trillion won ($127 billion) in 2011, up 16.3 percent from the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Last year’s record financing was mainly attributable to corporate debt sales, which posted a fresh record high of 130.49 trillion won last year, up 15.6 percent from a year before, according to the FSS.
South Korea’s industrial firms rushed to secure liquidity via bond issuance in preparation for a grim outlook of global economy and massive bond maturities that amount to 25.2 trillion won in the first half of this year, reported Xinhua.
Equity financing, including initial public offering (IPO) and rights offering, stood at 12.9 trillion won in 2011, up 24.8 percent from the previous year, according to the FSS.
