Bank to issue US$120m in floating rate notes

THE Industrial Bank of Korea has signed a subscription agreement for the issue of US$120 million in floating rate notes in Hong Kong tomorrow. The notes carry coupon of 0.3 per cent a year over the six-month London interbank offered rate and will mature in August 1997.

They will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

The Industrial Bank of Korea will use the proceeds of the issue for general funding.

The bank was established by the South Korean Government in 1961 under the Industrial Bank of Korea Act to promote the economic activities of small and medium-sized enterprises in South Korea.

The government owns 99.99 per cent of the bank's paid-up capital.

At the end of last year, it had total assets of 17.37 trillion won (about HK$167 billion), deposits of 8.33 trillion won and stockholders' equity of 391 billion won. It operates a domestic network consisting of 321 branches and five domestic subsidiaries, and an overseas network.

The arrangers of the issue are the Singapore branch of Bayerische Landesbank Girozentrale, BOT International (HK), DKB Asia, Dresdner (Southeast Asia), LTCB Asia, Sakura Finance Asia, Standard Chartered Asia, Sumitomo Finance (Asia), and WestLB Asia Pacific.

Despite concern about the political situation in the Korean peninsula, eight international banks and financial institutions have joined the nine arrangers to raise the syndicate's size to 17, representing six nationalities.