이 기사는 2019년 10월 02일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Woori Bank, a major South Korean lender, has issued a dollar-denominated hybrid bond, in a deal that showed the strong investor interest.

The bank issued 550 million dollar worth of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds on September 26. Woori initially planned to raise 500 million dollar in the global financial markets, but later increased the amount thanks to investor interest. The new bond has no specific maturity date and carries a five-year call option.

The U.S. president facing of an impeachment inquiry was a tailwind for the deal popularity. A day before Woori Bank's pricing process, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the start of an impeachment inquiry into Trump and the U.S. market volatility elevated.

Woori Bank's bond issue was successful with the lowest issuance rate and the largest amount of orders ever. The bond was issued at 4.25 percent, the lowest among contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) sold by the bank in Korean Paper markets so far. Woori Bank was the first South Korean bank that issued foreign-currency denominated hybrid bond in 2015 and its CoCos' have been issued at around five percent since then.

During the pricing process, investors rushed to place orders worth 2.7 billion dollars, almost four times the issue amount. When the lender issued 500 million dollars of AT1 bonds in 2016 and 2017, it drew investor orders of 850 million dollar and 1.5 billion dollar, respectively.

For this deal, the lender targeted Asian investors, who have good understanding of South Korean banks. Considering European lenders issue a lot more CoCos than Asian peers, Woori Bank hosted its roadshow last month in Asia and the U.S., but excluded Europe. The bank thought it can meet the investor demand with its exiting sales networks. When issuing global bonds (RegS/14), banks normally hold roadshows in Asia, Europe and the U.S.

Woori Bank put efforts on updating its portfolio for its existing investors in CoCos. The lender especially highlighted the fact that Standard & Poor's revised the outlook on the bank's unsubordinated debt (A0) from 'stable' to 'positive' in June.

As a result, Asian institutions flocked to the bonds and 80 percent of the issue amount was allocated to them. Europe and the U.S. took about 10 percent of the amount, respectively.

(By reporter Pi Hye-rim)