March Corporate Fundraising at 22 Trillion Won... Corporate Bonds Down as Investment Execution Ends

Financial Supervisory Service Announces
"Direct Financing Performance of Companies in March 2025"

In March, the amount of funds raised by domestic companies through the issuance of stocks and corporate bonds decreased by more than 22% compared to the previous month. This decline is attributed to the completion of investment executions by institutional investors at the beginning of the year.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's announcement on April 24, titled "Direct Financing Performance of Companies in March 2025," the total amount of stocks and corporate bonds issued by companies last month was 21.8168 trillion won, a decrease of 6.1898 trillion won (22.1%) compared to the previous month.

The volume of stock issuance in March was 469 billion won, an increase of 25.9 billion won (5.8%) compared to 443.2 billion won in the previous month.

The amount of funds raised through initial public offerings (IPOs) was 168.9 billion won, a decrease of 36.6 billion won (17.8%) compared to the previous month. A total of eight companies conducted IPOs. In addition, 300.2 billion won was raised through paid-in capital increases, an increase of 62.4 billion won (26.3%). A total of six companies, including Hyundai Motor Securities and GI Innovation, carried out paid-in capital increases.

The issuance of corporate bonds amounted to 21.3478 trillion won, a decrease of 6.2157 trillion won (22.6%) compared to 27.5635 trillion won in the previous month.

The total issuance of ordinary corporate bonds was 4.202 trillion won, a decrease of 6.5689 trillion won (61.0%) compared to 10.77 trillion won in the previous month. The number of cases also dropped from 104 to 49. By purpose, 3.857 trillion won was for refinancing, while 345 billion won was for operational purposes.

The majority of bonds issued were rated AA or higher. AA-rated or higher corporate bonds totaled 3.29 trillion won, accounting for 78.3% of the total issuance. A-rated bonds amounted to 775.9 billion won, representing 18.4%, while bonds rated BBB or below accounted for 137 billion won, or 3.3%.

Financial bonds totaling 15.2259 trillion won were issued, a 4.0% decrease compared to 15.8679 trillion won in the previous month. However, the number of issuances increased from 195 to 207.

Asset-backed securities (ABS) issuance reached 1.9199 trillion won, an increase of 107.4% compared to 994.3 billion won in the previous month. The number of cases also rose from 51 to 109.

Last month, the issuance of commercial paper (CP) and short-term bonds was 118.8299 trillion won, an increase of 689.3 billion won (0.6%) compared to 118.1406 trillion won in February. Among these, CP issuance amounted to 29.15 trillion won, a decrease of 6.5133 trillion won (18.3%) compared to 35.6633 trillion won in the previous month.

The issuance of short-term bonds was 89.6798 trillion won, an increase of 7.2025 trillion won (8.7%) compared to 82.4773 trillion won in the previous month.