Kiwoom Securities Solely Underwrites This Year's First Sustainability-Linked Bond

Kiwoom Securities announced on the 8th that it has issued a 100 billion KRW scale Hyundai Capital Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB). This is the first SLB issued this year, and Kiwoom Securities acted as the sole underwriter.

SLBs are a type of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) bond. A key feature is that if the issuing company fails to achieve the pre-set sustainability performance targets, it provides investors with a certain level of premium. Unlike other ESG bonds, SLBs verify whether the targets are met through post-issuance management, which helps prevent greenwashing. Private companies actively issue SLBs overseas in regions such as the United States and Europe.

Kiwoom Securities also issued the first domestic SLB last year. It co-underwrote Hyundai Capital's 220 billion KRW SLB and successfully completed the issuance in July last year. Building on this experience, Kiwoom Securities solely underwrote Hyundai Capital's SLB issuance this year.

This SLB is sized at a total of 100 billion KRW, with all tranches structured as 2-year maturities. The sustainability performance target is set to increase the proportion of eco-friendly vehicle financing products within Hyundai Capital's overall auto finance portfolio. If this target is not met, an additional 0.02 percentage points will be paid to investors on top of the bond interest at maturity.