S. Korean firms` direct financing up 12.8 pct in March

SEOUL, April 25 (Yonhap) -- Direct financing by South Korean companies climbed
12.8 percent in March from a month earlier after Korea Life Insurance Co.'s heavy
initial public offerings boosted funds, the nation's financial watchdog said
Sunday.
Local companies raised a total of 10.8 trillion won (US$9.7 billion) last month
through the issuance of new stocks and bonds, the Financial Supervisory Service
(FSS) said. It compared with 9.57 trillion won raised the previous month.
The growth was driven by a massive amount of stock sales by the nation's second
largest life insurer which sold a total of 1.3 trillion won worth of shares to
the public before being listed on the Korea Exchange's main bourse on March 17.
Funding from stock sales jumped to 1.86 trillion won last month from 244.5
billion won the previous month, while bond issuance declined 4.2 percent to 8.94
trillion won, the FSS said.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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