이 기사는 2022년 04월 14일 08시09분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) seeks to sell a foreign currency-denominated bond for the first time this year.

K-water has started a process to sell a euro-denominated bond by selecting BNP Paribas, Citigroup Global Markets Securities, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale as underwriters, according to industry sources on Tuesday.

The Reg S issue is expected to be structured as a 3-year or 5-year single tranche. K-water plans to decide the structure after its investor call on Wednesday. The state-owned company plans to market its euro-denominated bond to investors in Asia and Europe.

This will mark K-water’s first bond issue in the Korean paper market in four years since 2018. It issued a water bond for the first time in Asia in May 2018 and raised 200 million francs in its maiden foreign currency-denominated bond issue - other than the dollar-denominated bond issue - in August 2018.

The bond will be issued in a form of green bond. K-water raised 50 billion won in its first SRI (Socially Responsible Investment) bond sale in March 2021. The bond received the highest possible G1 rating from Korea Ratings.

K-water has a rating of Aa2 by credit ratings agency Moody's and AA by S&P. (Reporting by Ji-won Kim)