Last month, there were only four cases of initial public offerings (IPOs) and paid-in capital increases, resulting in a roughly 75% drop in the total amount of stock issued by domestic companies compared to the previous month.
According to the "Direct Financing Performance of Companies in October 2025" released by the Financial Supervisory Service on November 26, the amount raised through public offerings last month was tallied at 23.705 trillion won, a decrease of 4.9891 trillion won (17.4%) from the previous month.
In particular, the total volume of stock issuance in October amounted to only 93.9 billion won. Both IPOs and paid-in capital increases declined, resulting in a sharp 74.6% drop from the previous month's 369.8 billion won. In terms of the number of cases, the total also halved from eight in the previous month to four in October.
Specifically, IPOs accounted for 52.4 billion won (2 cases) and paid-in capital increases for 41.5 billion won (2 cases), representing decreases of 78.4% and 67.3% from the previous month, respectively. Even the two IPOs were both for KOSDAQ listings, so the average amount per IPO shrank from 60.8 billion won in the previous month to 26.2 billion won in October. Both paid-in capital increases were also small-scale capital increases by KOSDAQ-listed companies.
The volume of corporate bond issuance also declined across all categories-general corporate bonds, financial bonds, and asset-backed securities (ABS)-falling by 16.6% from the previous month to 23.6111 trillion won. As of the end of October, the total outstanding balance of corporate bonds stood at 750.0447 trillion won.
In detail, the number of general corporate bond issuances in October was 32 cases, amounting to 3.555 trillion won, which is a decrease of 2.158 trillion won (37.8%) from the previous month. The proportion of bonds issued for refinancing and operating purposes decreased, while the proportion issued for facility investment increased.
Financial bonds amounted to 18.2309 trillion won, down 2.4409 trillion won (11.8%) from the previous month. Financial holding company bonds (1.4 trillion won) and other financial bonds (8.615 trillion won) decreased by 41.7% and 17.5%, respectively, while bank bonds (8.1799 trillion won) increased by 5.1%.
ABS also fell by 114.3 billion won (5.9%) from the previous month, reaching 1.8252 trillion won. In the case of primary collateralized bond obligations (P-CBOs), which are ABS issued with enhanced credit support by institutions such as the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund to facilitate funding for mid-sized and small businesses, there were 10 cases totaling 454.2 billion won. While the number of cases was unchanged from the previous month, the total amount decreased by 22.1% (128.8 billion won).
Additionally, in October, the issuance of commercial paper (CP) and short-term bonds totaled 137.6459 trillion won, down 12.3867 trillion won (8.3%) from the previous month's 150.0326 trillion won. CP issuance was 44.6861 trillion won, a decrease of 6.9%, while short-term bonds amounted to 92.9598 trillion won, down 8.9%. As of the end of October, the outstanding balances of CP and short-term bonds were 234.4648 trillion won and 78.6585 trillion won, respectively.
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