이 기사는 2020년 01월 21일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Hyundai Capital, a consumer financial service providing unit of Hyundai Motor Group, has successfully sold Swiss franc-denominated bonds. The bond sale drew strong interest from investors, attracting 450 million francs in orders, 1.5 times larger than the issue amount.

The company announced its 300 million franc worth of franc-denominated bonds in the Swiss financial market on January 15. The coupon rate was set at 0.26 percent. Credit Suisse acted as the bookrunner for the offering.

Hyundai Capital could tighten the spread to 75 bp over Swiss franc mid-swap from the initial 78 bp as the company received 450 million francs in orders from 68 institutions. Industry watchers estimated the company could have sold bonds at interest rates around 20 bp lower than U.S. dollar-denominated bonds.

The bond sale drew strong demand thanks to plenty of liquidity and solid relationship with investors. The US-China phase one trade deal and an ease in tensions between U.S. and Iran were also tailwinds.

South Korea’s state-run companies that have ratings of AA by global credit ratings agencies have issued franc-denominated bonds at negative interest rates since last year. This has kept investors’ sentiment on such bonds subdued. On the contrary, BBB+ rated Hyundai Capital attracted investors by offering interest rate above zero percent.

Hyundai Capital has tapped the Switzerland market eight times since 2010. Since 2018, the company has visited the market every year to build connections with investors there.

Thanks to the latest issuance, the company could recover from the last year’s failure. In September of 2019, the company failed to attract investors to its global bond issuance during the pricing process.

Since 2019, the company has chosen franc-denominated bonds as its first Korean Paper issuance of the year. Korean Papers refer to foreign currency-denominated securities issued by South Korean entities in overseas markets. In January of 2019, the company sold franc-denominated green bonds worth 200 million franc.

The issuance of franc-denominated bonds in the Korean Paper market increased drastically in 2018, but the pace has slowed down since last year. In 2018 alone, 2.4 billion dollar worth franc-denominated bonds were sold, while the trend has subdued since the second quarter of 2019.

(By reporter Pi Hye-rim)