Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
Eximbank issues 'Kangaroo bonds' worth Aus$700 mil. in Australia
Headquarters of the Export-Import Bank of Korea in Seoul. Yonhap
By Lee Min-hyung
By Lee Min-hyung
The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) has issued “kangaroo bonds” worth 700 million Australian dollars (566 billion won) to diversify its financing channels abroad, the state-run lender said Thursday.
Eximbank said it is the first Asian financial organization to issue the bonds since the global economy was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The lender has closely monitored the Australian market to expand its foothold overseas and decided recently to issue the bonds amid rising investor confidence there.
Eximbank has issued Kangaroo bonds worth 4.8 billion Australian dollars since it started doing so in 2012, the largest amount among Asian organizations issuing the bonds.
“We will do our utmost to expand our financing channels by continuously tapping into niche markets,” a spokesman for the lender said.
“Eximbank reaffirmed that its bonds were trustworthy enough to win overseas investors' confidence as a safe asset despite the virus-induced uncertainty in the global financial market.”
The dual-tranche bonds consisted of a fixed interest rate and a floating rate. Two hundred million Australian dollars of the total amount were issued with a fixed rate of 1.311 percent, while the rest had an interest rate of 1.07 percent, plus the bank bill swap rate that is used as a benchmark for pricing Australian-dollar derivatives. The maturity of the bond is three years.
Fifty-seven investors placed orders worth 1.7 billion Australian dollars for the bonds.
It has been seven months since a Korean organization succeeded in issuing kangaroo bonds ― the end of October 2019 ― when Korea Southern Power Co. issued bonds worth 300 million Australian dollars.
Korea Resources Corporation also pushed to issue kangaroo bonds this year but gave up due to virus-driven bond market panic abroad.