The relentless invasion by South Korean borrowers into Asia's debt capital markets continues, reinforcing their domination of the territory.
Industrial Bank of Korea IBK, which is 51%-owned by the state, is the latest Korean issuer to bring a US dollar deal, pricing a $1 billion benchmark bond early this morning, Hong Kong time.
The bond pays a coupon of 7.125% and was priced at 99.265 to yield 7.303% to a maturity date of April 23, 2014. This translates into 500bp over mid-swaps or 556.6bp over the five-year US Treasury yield. Initial price guidance at the beginning of the week had indicated a range of 525bp-550bp over mid-swaps.
Prior to IBK's transaction, Korean issuers...