[E-Daily Marketin KIM YEON-SEO Reporter] KIWOOM Securities (AA0) achieved a successful bond offering, securing more than four times the target amount during its bookbuilding process. This is believed to be driven by institutional investors’ demand, fueled by expectations of improved earnings in the first half of this year due to favorable conditions in the securities industry, as well as the company’s strong market position.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 13th, KIWOOM Securities received a total of 945 billion won in orders during its institutional investor bookbuilding for corporate bonds, which had a target of 200 billion won.

By tranche (maturity), orders totaling 470 billion won were received for the 2-year tranche (70 billion won target), and 475 billion won for the 3-year tranche (130 billion won target). The total orders amounted to approximately 4.7 times the target offering amount.

KIWOOM Securities set its target yield band at -30 to +30 basis points (bps; 1 bp = 0.01 percentage point) relative to the rates assessed by individual private bond rating agencies. Based on the amount raised, the 2-year tranche met its target at a rate 1 bp lower than the individual private market average, while the 3-year tranche met its target at the same level as the individual private market average.

Since both tranches secured the target amount at rates around the private market average, the results are considered relatively favorable from a yield perspective. The favorable business environment across the securities industry—driven by recent increases in stock market trading volume and a recovery in investor sentiment—also appears to have had a positive impact on the bookbuilding process.

Based on the results of the bookbuilding, KIWOOM Securities plans to consider increasing the issuance amount by up to 400 billion won. KB Securities and Korea Investment & Securities served as the lead underwriters for this corporate bond issuance, which is scheduled for the 21st.

KIWOOM Securities plans to use the funds raised through this corporate bond issuance to repay electronic short-term notes. The aim is to stabilize its funding structure by refinancing short-term debt with long-term corporate bonds.

In its securities registration statement, KIWOOM Securities stated, “The 200 billion won raised from the issuance of unsecured corporate bonds is scheduled to be used for debt repayment,” adding, “The funds raised through this bond issuance are intended to improve the stability of our capital structure by repaying maturing electronic short-term notes among our existing borrowings.”