Direct financing by South Korean companies rose 4.7 percent in March as an increase in stock issuance offset a decline in bond sales, the financial watchdog said Friday.
Local companies raised a combined 9.34 trillion won ($8.99 billion) last month by selling stocks and bonds, compared with 8.92 trillion won a month earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
Corporate direct financing for the first three months of the year slid 4.4 percent on-year to 26.97 trillion won from 28.2 trillion won, the FSS added.
The companies' stock sales shot up 230.3 percent on-month to 914.6 billion won in March from 276.9 billion won. The three-month stock issuance reached 1.4 trillion won, up 135.4 percent on-year from 595.1 billion won.
The jump is attributable to a 622.8 billion won worth debt-to-equity swap by cash-strapped STX Group, whose major affiliates are under court receivership, as part of restructuring efforts to revitalize the firm, the FSS said.
There was no initial public offering last month, compared with 78 offerings in February.
Corporate bond sale stood at 8.42 trillion won in March, slipping 2.5 percent on-month from 8.64 trillion won, the watchdog said.
Ordinary companies sold 3.14 trillion won worth of debts last month, down 3.1 percent on-month from 3.24 trillion won, while financial firms raised 2 trillion won by selling bonds, up 10.4 percent from 1.8 trillion won a month earlier.
They sold 1.07 trillion won worth of asset-backed securities in March, plunging 53.7 percent on-month from 1.24 trillion won. Those sold by banks soared 72 percent to 2.23 trillion won from 1.3 trillion won over the cited period. (Yonhap)