Direct financing by South Korean companies edged up in 2014 from a year earlier on large-size initial public offerings, the financial watchdog said Monday.

Local companies raised a combined 121.94 trillion won ($113.15 billion) from stock and bond sales throughout last year, compared with 121.5 trillion won the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

Stock offerings contributed to the slight rise, totaling 5.77 trillion won last year, up 10.8 percent from 5.2 trillion won a year earlier on the back of upbeat IPOs.

Seventy companies went public last year, including Cheil Industries Inc., the de facto holding company of Samsung Group, to raise 1.75 trillion won, up 59.9 percent on-year from 1 trillion won.

Corporate debt issuance stood at 161.2 trillion won, nearly unmoved from the previous year, according to the watchdog. (Yonhap)