NH NongHyup Bank's Hong Kong branch said on Thursday it has successfully issued a $50 million global bond, worth about 72.5 billion won.
The issuance marks the first case of the bank's overseas branch independently issuing a bond in a host-country capital market using its local network. It was seen as demonstrating overseas hubs' ability to raise funds on their own, moving away from a head-office-led model of foreign-currency funding.
The global bond has a one-year maturity and a floating rate, and was issued at about SOFR plus 42 basis points. The funds raised are expected to be used to support Korean companies' overseas expansion and overseas infrastructure project financing.
The lead manager for the issuance is French cooperative bank Credit Agricole.
Jeon Sang-wook (전상욱), head of NH NongHyup Bank's Hong Kong branch, said the branch directly attracted investors in the local capital market, creating an opportunity to diversify the existing head-office-led foreign-currency funding model into global markets. He said the Hong Kong branch will continue to strengthen its role as a hub for the bank's global funding.
Ji-young Lee
ljy@d-today.co.kr