[THE INVESTOR] Korea Development Bank said Wednesday the state-run financier issued $1 billion worth of global bonds at all-time low borrowing rates, thanks to a recent upgrade in Korea’s sovereign credit rating.

The country’s largest public financier issued three-year and 10-year bonds at 0.63 percent and 0.64 percent respectively, which are 0.06 to 0.09 percent lower than the interest rates of similar bonds issued by the KDB and the Industrial bank of Korea.

The rates are 0.04 to 0.17 percent lower than those of Canadian and Australian bonds, the bank said. Investors for the bonds included healthy institutions such as the central banks of Finland, Switzerland and Kazakhstan. Seventy-five percent of the investors were from Asia, while the rest were from Europe and the US, according to the bank.  

“The growing uncertainties in the global market stemming from a US interest rate hike are expected to be favorable for Korea’s bond issuance,” said the bank in a statement. “The latest upgrade in the country’s credit rating by S&P from ‘AA-’ to ‘AA’ has helped issue the bonds successfully, cementing the KDB’s position as the country’s leading financier.”

As of August, the KDB financed a total of $2.7 billion by issuing bonds including short-term and long-term maturities.    

By Song Su-hyun/The Korea Herald (song@heraldcorp.com)