[E-Daily Marketin KIM YEON-SEO Reporter] CHONGKUNDANG HOLDINGS CORP. (A+), the holding company of the CHONGKUNDANG Group, is set to issue up to 100 billion won in public corporate bonds. The group’s scale is expanding and profitability is improving thanks to sales of the obesity treatment Wegovy, introduced by its subsidiary CHONGKUNDANG, which is expected to have a positive impact on investor sentiment. However, as net debt continues to rise due to the burden of large-scale investments—such as the construction of a bio-complex R&D park—managing financial stability going forward is seen as a key challenge.

According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on the 18th, CHONGKUNDANG HOLDINGS CORP. plans to issue corporate bonds totaling 60 billion won on the 1st of next month. The issuance is structured into two tranches: a 2-year tranche worth 30 billion won and a 3-year tranche worth 30 billion won. The company has left open the possibility of increasing the issuance amount to a maximum of 100 billion won, depending on the results of the bookbuilding process.

The book-building process for institutional investors will take place on the 24th of this month. KB Securities and SamsungSecurities are serving as lead underwriters. The target yield range for the public offering has been set at -30 to +30 basis points (bps; 1 bp = 0.01 percentage points) relative to the yield of “A+”-rated private bonds as assessed by a private bond rating agency.

CHONGKUNDANG HOLDINGS CORP. is the holding company of the Chong Kun Dang Group, with major subsidiaries including CHONGKUNDANG, KYONGBO PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD., CKDBioCorporation, and CHONGKUNDANG Health. In addition to managing its subsidiaries, the company is responsible for new investment functions such as research and development of biopharmaceuticals.

Korea Ratings Corporation and NICE Credit Rating have assigned CHONGKUNDANG HOLDINGS CORP. a credit rating of “A+ (Stable).” They assess that the company maintains excellent levels of profitability and financial stability, particularly in its pharmaceutical division. While increased investment burdens are cited as a concern, they believe the company can manage its financial stability based on its strong operating cash flow generation.

Korea Ratings recently assessed that the CHONGKUNDANG Group is continuing to achieve stable revenue growth on a consolidated basis. “Wegovy,” an obesity treatment introduced by subsidiary CHONGKUNDANG in October 2025, recorded sales of 48.8 billion won in the first quarter of 2026. Driven primarily by sales growth at CHONGKUNDANG, consolidated revenue rose 6.2% year-over-year to 688 billion won.

Profitability also improved. Han Ki-pyeong analyzed that reduced marketing expenses resulting from changes in CHONGKUNDANG Health’s sales channels, along with base effects at KYONGBO PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD., contributed to the improvement in the operating profit margin. KYONGBO PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. temporarily suspended operations at its production facilities in the first quarter of 2025 due to plant renovation work. Consequently, the operating profit margin on a consolidated group basis for the first quarter of 2026 rose by 1.0 percentage points year-over-year to 4.8%.

However, the financial burden resulting from expanded investment remains a factor to monitor. Although consolidated EBITDA increased in 2025, inventory burdens grew, particularly at CHONGKUNDANG and CKDBioCorporation. In addition, capital expenditures remained higher than in previous years—including land purchases for the construction of a bio-complex R&D complex—causing net debt to rise by 141.9 billion won compared to the end of the previous year.

Working capital and investment burdens have persisted into this year as well, causing consolidated net debt to rise to 504.9 billion won as of the end of March. However, financial leverage remains at an excellent level as the company continues to strengthen its capital base through net income generation. As of the end of March, the consolidated debt-to-equity ratio stood at 98.4%, and the debt dependency ratio was 29.8%.

Kim Jin-hong, a senior researcher at Korea Ratings, commented, “With CHONGKUNDANG continuing to see improved profitability due to its sales channel transition, and CHONGKUNDANG continuing to expand its business scale through aggressive product launches, the group is expected to maintain excellent profit-generating capacity.”

He continued, “However, due to funding requirements related to scheduled large-scale capital expenditures—such as the construction of CHONGKUNDANG’s bio-complex R&D complex—the consolidated ‘net debt/EBITDA’ ratio is expected to rise to around 2.5 times in 2026–2027,” “It will be necessary to monitor the extent of profitability fluctuations resulting from the expansion of newly introduced products and the burden of R&D expenses, as well as the scale of annual capital expenditures and trends in financial stability,” the analyst added.