Last month, capital raised by domestic corporations through direct financing significantly increased. Although capital raised through stocks sharply decreased due to the tariff crisis originating from the United States, bond issuance doubled, filling the gap.
The Financial Supervisory Service announced on the 20th that the funds raised by corporations through issuing stocks or corporate bonds reached 30.8019 trillion won in April, up 8.9850 trillion won (approximately 41.2%) from the previous month.
Direct financing refers to the method by which a company raises funds directly by issuing stocks or bonds without going through financial companies.
Last month, the scale of fundraising through stocks was 373.4 billion won, down 95.7 billion won (20.4%) compared to the previous month. Initial public offerings (IPOs) decreased by 78 billion won (46.2%) and rights offerings fell by 17.7 billion won (5.9%) compared to the previous month. It is interpreted that the decline in stock issuance was due to increased volatility in the stock market, driven by concerns over an economic recession resulting from the U.S. tariff policy.
General corporate bonds amounting to 8.883 trillion won were issued last month, marking an increase of 4.681 trillion won (111.4%) from the previous month.
The scale of corporate bond issuance for operating funds surged from 345 billion won to 1.1153 trillion won within a month. The issuance of corporate bonds for refinancing increased from 3.857 trillion won to 7.7177 trillion won.
The FSS explained that by issuance proportion, the portion for refinancing decreased from 91.8% to 86.9%, while the portion for operating purposes rose from 8.2% to 12.6%.
During this period, financial bonds worth 19.9662 trillion won were issued, increasing by 4.7403 trillion won (31.1%). The total corporate bond balance has increased for ten consecutive months since June of last year, reaching 713.6966 trillion won as of last month.
CP and short-term bills saw issuance of 139.6684 trillion won last month, increasing by 20.8385 trillion won (17.5%) compared to the previous month. During this period, CP increased by 16.8403 trillion won and short-term bills by 3.9982 trillion won.