Corporate direct financing spikes over 16% in February on increased debt sale

Corporate direct financing in Korea soared 16.5 percent in February from a month earlier on increased bond sales, data showed Wednesday.

Local companies raised a combined 28 trillion won ($19.1 billion) last month by selling stocks and bonds, up 3.98 trillion won from the previous month, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

Stock sales sank to 443 billion won in February from the previous month's 739 billion won, with share sales via initial public offerings dipping to 205 billion won from 728 billion won over the cited period.

Corporate bond sales increased 18.3 percent on-month to 27.56 trillion won last month.

The value of outstanding corporate bonds stood at 701.69 trillion won as of end-February, up 4.47 trillion won from a year earlier. (Yonhap)