Kookmin makes a date with domestic market

Plans to issue roughly $850 million via a tier 1 hybrid transaction have been shelved, though not formally postponed and as Kookmin needs significant tier 1 capital, bankers believe a deal may yet re-surface once a domestic transaction is completed. The dollar denominated deal was mandated late last year to Kookmin shareholders' Goldman Sachs and ING, alongside Merrill Lynch and UBS Warburg. However earlier this week, it was supplanted by a domestic transaction, even though 144a documentation had been almost completed and the leads were waiting to include end of year financials, which would have become available at the end of February.