POSCO’s 1 Trillion Won Global Bond Issue a Success, Demonstrating Financial Strength

Simultaneous Issuance of 5- and 10-Year US Dollar Public Bonds
First Korean Issuance in Global Market This Year, Totaling $700 Million
Strong Demand Lowers Spread by 0.4 Percentage Points

POSCO has successfully secured large-scale foreign currency funding despite volatility in global financial markets.

On January 13, POSCO announced that it had issued a total of 700 million US dollars (approximately 1 trillion won) in US dollar-denominated public bonds. The issuance consists of 400 million dollars with a five-year maturity and 300 million dollars with a ten-year maturity, marking the first US dollar public bond issuance by a Korean company in the global market this year.

Jang Inhwa, Chairman of POSCO Holdings. POSCO Holdings

Initially, POSCO sought investors with a spread of 1.15 percentage points over US Treasury yields for the five-year bonds and 1.30 percentage points for the ten-year bonds. The book-building attracted over 180 institutional investors worldwide, including 67% from Asia, 18% from Europe and the Middle East, and 15% from the United States, resulting in orders totaling 6.6 billion dollars-more than nine times the issuance amount.

Thanks to this strong demand, the final spreads were reduced by 0.4 percentage points each, to 0.75 percentage points for the five-year bonds and 0.90 percentage points for the ten-year bonds. The coupon rates were set at 4.5% for the five-year bonds and 5.0% for the ten-year bonds. International credit rating agencies Moody’s and S&P assigned POSCO ratings of ‘Baa1’ and ‘A-’, respectively.

This issuance drew attention as it was carried out at a time when investment sentiment toward the steel industry had weakened due to several independent factors: changes in tariff policies in the United States and Europe, steel oversupply from China, and heightened geopolitical risks. In November last year, POSCO held 16 investor meetings in New York and Boston in the United States and in London, United Kingdom. In January this year, the company hosted investment briefings for 57 major institutions in Asian financial hubs such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, expanding its engagement with global investors.

Throughout this process, POSCO emphasized its strategies for responding to global steel market conditions, its stable financial structure, cost reduction efforts, and a portfolio focused on high value-added products.

POSCO plans to use the funds raised for refinancing existing bonds (reborrowing for debt repayment). A POSCO representative stated, “We will continue to build trust in the global financial market based on our stable financial structure.”