KDB doubles fundraising requirement

The Korean policy bank underlined its market expertise and adeptness late last Thursday with a $500 million re-opening of its 2007 and 2012 bonds. KDB's head of international funding, Bong-Sik Choi, says the bank is hoping to raise double its normal offshore fundraising quota during 2003 and therefore knew it would be crucial to set the right tone with its first deal. It would have also been conscious of a pressing need to re-affirm its status as Korea's most consistent and smartest proxy sovereign borrower in a year which will see a $3 billion sovereign transaction, currently expected towards the end of the first quarter.