Bonds
Korea Beats China With Record Corporate Dollar Bond Offerings
- Fewer deals from elsewhere in Asia help drive tight spreads
- LG Electronics’ recent dollar bond sale got 12 times demand
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Korean borrowers are selling an unprecedented amount of dollar bonds, overtaking Chinese peers to lead Asia’s primary market issuance for such debt.
Dollar bond offerings from South Korea rose 17% to $17.6 billion so far in 2024, a record for the period, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The bond rush pushes Korea to lead such sales in Asia excluding Japan so far this year. If the trend continues for rest of the year, it will mark the first year since 2010 for Korea to sell most dollar bonds in the region.