Corporate direct financing up 45 pct in April

SEOUL, May 26 (Yonhap) -- Corporate direct financing in South Korea rose 45.1 percent in April from the previous month, due largely to a big share issuance by Samsung Biologics Co., data showed Thursday.

Local companies raised a combined 20.1 trillion won by selling stocks and bonds last month, up 6.25 trillion won from a month earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

Direct financing refers to raising funds directly from the stock and bond markets without borrowing from banks or other financial institutions.

Stock sales soared 263.5 percent on-month to 3.49 trillion won in April, due mainly to a share sale by Samsung Biologics, the biotech arm of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group.

Samsung Biologics issued shares worth 3.2 trillion won last month in a bid to fund its plan to acquire U.S. drugmaker Biogen's entire stake in Samsung Bioepis.

Corporate bond sales rose 28.8 percent on-month to 16.6 trillion won in April due to demand for operating funds.

Local companies also issued commercial paper and short-term bonds worth 137.3 trillion won last month, down 8.2 percent from the previous month.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)