Corporate Direct Financing in First Half of This Year Up 8% Year-on-Year

Financial Supervisory Service Announces 'Direct Financing Performance of Companies in the First Half of 2025'
"Stock and IPO Issuance Down, but Corporate Bond Issuance Up"

In the first half of this year, the amount of funds raised by domestic companies through the issuance of stocks and corporate bonds increased by more than 8% compared to the same period last year. While the issuance of stocks and initial public offerings (IPOs) declined, the increase was driven by a rise in corporate bond issuance.

According to the "Direct Financing Performance of Companies in the First Half of 2025" announced by the Financial Supervisory Service on July 28, the total amount of public offerings of stocks and corporate bonds in the first half reached 149.9324 trillion won, up by 11.61 trillion won (8.4%) compared to the same period last year.

The amount raised through stock issuance was 4.2337 trillion won, a decrease of 16.6% from the previous year. IPOs amounted to 1.4492 trillion won, down 7.5%. There was only one large-scale IPO exceeding 1 trillion won, which was LG CNS, while most others were small to mid-sized. Rights offerings also fell by 20.6% to 2.7846 trillion won. The number of cases was 24, similar to the 23 cases in the same period last year, but the average issuance size decreased.

In the first half of this year, corporate bond issuance amounted to 145.6986 trillion won, an increase of 9.3% year-on-year. All categories of corporate bonds?general corporate bonds, financial bonds, and asset-backed securities (ABS)?increased, marking the highest level ever for a half-year period. Of these, general corporate bonds totaled 37.8320 trillion won, up 12.9%. Issuance of financial bonds (97.3876 trillion won) and ABS (10.4790 trillion won) also increased by 5.4% and 43.4%, respectively.

By credit rating, the proportion of high-grade corporate bonds rated AA or higher rose by 4.5 percentage points to 72.7% compared to the same period last year. In terms of fund usage, refinancing accounted for 80.9%, making up the majority. The proportion used for facility funds was only 2.7%, marking the lowest level in the past five years.

The outstanding balance of corporate bonds reached 702.2144 trillion won, up 6.7% year-on-year. For general corporate bonds, new issuances exceeded the amount maturing (31.3340 trillion won), maintaining a net issuance trend.

During the first half of this year, the issuance of commercial paper (CP) and short-term bonds reached 757.7414 trillion won, an increase of 26.8% compared to the same period last year. Of this, CP issuance was 237.6773 trillion won, up 19.0%. General CP and other asset-backed CP (ABCP) amounted to 129.9156 trillion won and 941.7058 trillion won, increasing by 12.0% and 36.4%, respectively.

The issuance of short-term bonds was 520.0641 trillion won, up 30.8%. General short-term bonds amounted to 364.9377 trillion won, PF-AB short-term bonds were 74.8090 trillion won, and other AB short-term bonds were 80.3175 trillion won. These figures increased by 31.2%, 16.2%, and 46.0%, respectively.