이 기사는 2022년 02월 18일 08:09 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

LG Display has attracted strong demand for its bond issuance, garnering orders more than three times the offering despite the frozen investor sentiment.

LG Display launched its bookbuilding process on Wednesday and received bids worth 835 billion won ($697 million), over three times more than the planned offering of 250 billion won, according to industry sources.

Korea Investment & Securities, KB Securities and Shinhan Investment are managing the sale, with NH Investment & Securities, HI Investment & Securities and Kiwoom Securities participating in a syndicate.

The offering included 200 billion won of 3-year bonds and 50 billion won of 5-year bonds. The 3-year bonds drew bids worth 620 billion won and the 5-year bonds attracted bids worth 235 billion won.

Market insiders said the company’s successful bookbuilding may revive the bond market sentiment. LG Display proposed yields ranging from minus 30 to plus 30 basis points of average yields evaluated by local credit rating agencies for each bond and the bonds have been priced at 5 basis points lower than the average yields.

Such strong demand is attributable to high ratings of the bonds, which received the highest possible Green1 rating from NICE Investors Service.

“The proceeds from the ESG bond issuance will be used to expand (LG Display’s) manufacturing lines of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays,” said NICE Investors Service, adding, “The production of eco-friendly OLED panels is expected to help safeguard the environment.”

LG Display is considering whether to increase the offering to up to 500 billion won depending on the bookdbuilding results. An industry source said the specific size hasn’t been decided yet.

The panel maker reported sales of 29.9 trillion won last year on a consolidated basis, up 23.1% from a year ago. It turned profitable, posting an operating profit of 2.23 trillion won and a net profit of 1.33 trillion won in 2021.

LG Display was rated A+ with a stable outlook by NICE Investors Service while Korea Investors Service gave an A+ rating with a positive outlook on the company, heightening the possibility of a credit rating upgrade. (Reporting by Sang-won Lee)