The Export-Import Bank of Korea (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman BANG, Moon-kyu, “Korea Eximbank”) announced that the Bank has successfully issued a USD 500 million Global Bond on February 6.

The bond offering came amid heightened market uncertainty as concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 have caused major stock markets to tumble and Asian financial markets, such as Hong Kong and China mainland, to remain unstable. Despite these difficulties, Korea Eximbank carefully monitored the market situation and seized a moment when global financial markets start to stabilize and investor sentiment was turning positive.

The five-year fixed-rate bonds were priced 0.475%p higher than the U.S. five-year government bond rate, marking the lowest spread among Korean benchmark issues, excluding government bonds, since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

A Korea Eximbank official said, "The latest offering has attracted high demand from global investors amid the COVID scare that has spilled over to the entire  financial market, and it implies that our bonds are considered as a safe heaven among investors.”

He added, “This global bond issuance reaffirmed investors’ confidence in Korean papers while serving as a benchmark for other Korean issuers to follow in the future.”