Kibo Issues 476.5 Billion KRW in Bond-Backed Securities This Year... Supporting Scale-Up of Innovative SMEs

Doubled Compared to Last Year
Focused Support for Korean-Style Green Companies and New Growth Industries

The Korea Technology Finance Corporation (Kibo) announced on the 14th that it has issued a total of KRW 476.5 billion worth of P-CBOs (Project Collateralized Bond Obligations) in two rounds during the first and second half of this year to enable small and medium-sized venture enterprises (SMVEs) to stably raise funds through direct financing.

P-CBO is a system that helps companies secure stable long-term funding by selling corporate bonds of SMVEs, which have difficulty raising funds on their own credit, to the capital market with credit enhancement from Kibo, using these bonds as underlying assets.

Kibo supported 262 companies with KRW 476.5 billion this year to alleviate funding difficulties faced by SMVEs due to economic downturn and high interest rates, issuing KRW 426.6 billion in new funds and KRW 49.9 billion for refinancing existing corporate bonds. In particular, the issuance of new funds more than doubled compared to KRW 204.7 billion last year to support the scale-up of innovative SMVEs.

Furthermore, to strengthen support for growth of technology innovation companies in future technology and new growth sectors and to secure leadership in future industries, more than 78% of the new funds were focused on companies engaged in the five major fields of the ‘New Growth Future Strategic Industries’: ▲Advanced Manufacturing ▲Energy ▲Digital, Telecommunications, and Services ▲Automation ▲Bio Industry.

Next year, Kibo plans to continue issuing P-CBOs to alleviate funding difficulties and ensure stable financing for SMVEs. Kim Jong-ho, Chairman of Kibo, stated, “Kibo will strengthen customized policy support so that SMVEs can leap to mid-sized enterprises and faithfully serve as a growth ladder for companies,” adding, “We will continue to expand financial support necessary for the scale-up of SMVEs through various collaborations with related organizations and strive to help companies achieve tangible results.”