Woori Bank issues $600 million in senior bonds... "Lowest spread on record"

Woori Bank has successfully issued $600 million in senior foreign-currency bonds, The Financial News reported.
According to Woori Bank on the 21st, this issuance marks the first public offering of foreign-currency bonds by a commercial bank this year. The deal was structured as a dual-tranche offering, combining a 3-year floating-rate note and a 5-year fixed-rate note. The coupons were set at the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) plus 48 basis points (bps) for the 3-year tranche and the U.S. 5-year Treasury note plus 33 bps for the 5-year tranche. Both tranches achieved the lowest spread over benchmarks ever recorded by a Korean commercial bank.
Ahead of the deal, Woori Bank representatives visited the Americas and Europe in November last year to meet investors. Earlier this month, they also held investor presentations in Asian capital markets, including Singapore and Hong Kong. Overseas investors are said to have given high marks to Woori Bank’s improved capital adequacy.
Woori Bank noted that improvements in its capital ratio and net interest margin (NIM) through asset rebalancing, along with active asset quality management that reduced non-performing loans (NPLs) and the delinquency ratio, were key drivers behind the strong demand for this bond issuance.
A Woori Bank official said, "This outcome reaffirms the global market’s confidence in our dramatically improved financial performance," adding, "It is also significant in that we have expanded our foreign-currency funding model, which had been handled exclusively by headquarters, and laid the groundwork for our overseas branches to independently issue bonds going forward." The official went on to say, "The competitive pricing terms secured through this deal will serve as a favorable benchmark for overseas branches in London, LA, Hong Kong, Singapore and other locations to manage their funding efficiently in line with local market conditions."

mj@fnnews.com Park Moon-soo Reporter