이 기사는 2020년 01월 28일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Korea South-East Power has issued its inaugural $300 million green bond in one tranche.

The South Korean public energy company announced the issuance of its 5-year RegS Eurobond labeled green on January 21. The initial price guidance was set at 90 basis points over the 5-year U.S. Treasury.

In the book-building process, the issue was nearly nine-times oversubscribed, with the company receiving almost $2.7 billion in orders from a total of 152 institutional investors.

The company sold $300 million with a yield of 2.225 percent, 27.5 basis points lower than the initial guidance. The coupon rate is set at 2.125 percent. 70 percent of the issuance were allocated to Asian investors and the remaining 30 percent to investors from Europe and the Middle East

This is the company’s first green bond. Green bonds are like conventional bonds except that use of proceeds is restricted to environmentally friendly investments or projects. With an increasing interest in sustainable finance in global bond markets, proceeds raised from so-called ESG (environmental, social and governance) bonds issued abroad by South Korean entities are on the rise.

Korea South-East Power has a rating of Aa2 by credit ratings agency Moody’s and AA by Standard and Poor’s (S&P).

The company is expected to use the funds to refinance existing debt. Its foreign currency bonds worth $300 million are set to mature in April. Citigroup Global Market Securities, Credit Agricole and HSBC acted as joint bookrunners.

(By reporter Pi Hye-rim)