Big firms to see more bonds mature this year

SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Yonhap) -- Large companies in South Korea will have to repay more maturing bonds in the first three quarters of 2017 than last year, a market tracker said Wednesday, in what could be a financial burden to some of them.

According to data by CEO Score, 184 firms belonging to the nation's top 30 business groups are estimated to have 44.5 trillion won (US$38.6 billion) worth of bonds that will mature by the end of September, up 8.2 percent from a year earlier.

The amount accounts for 24.7 percent of 180.2 trillion won in their outstanding corporate bonds as of the end of September last year.

Hyundai Motor Group, which has top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. under its wing, has the largest 10.3 trillion won worth of bonds maturing by September, followed by Lotte Group with 5.1 trillion won and SK Group with 4.8 trillion won.

Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. has 350 billion won worth of bonds maturing before September, or 77.8 percent of its outstanding bonds worth 450 billion won that is highest among the companies.

Cash-strapped Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. comes next with a share of 54.8 percent, with Hanjin Group trailing with 54.5 percent.

Daewoo Shipbuilding suffered a 5.5 trillion-won loss last year due largely to increased costs stemming from a delay in the construction of offshore facilities and an industrywide slump.

In contrast, Hyundai Department Store Group has no corporate bonds that will mature before September, according to the data.

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