Seoul: Corporate direct financing in South Korea increased 18 percent from a year earlier in July as companies jacked up stock offerings, offsetting a fall in debt sales, data showed Tuesday. Local companies raised a combined 28.25 trillion won (US$20.38 billion) last month by selling stocks and bonds, up 4.29 trillion won from a month earlier.
According to Yonhap News Agency, stock sales shot up by 4.42 trillion won on-month to 4.81 trillion won last month, with share sales via initial public offerings (IPOs) adding 514 billion won to 629 billion won over the cited period.
Corporate bond sales, however, fell 0.5 percent, or 127 billion won, to 23.43 trillion won. The value of outstanding corporate bonds stood at 725.59 trillion won as of end-July, up 5.37 trillion won, or 0.7 percent, from a year ago, the data showed.