KDB to raise US$200 mln in syndicated loan

SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB)
said Tuesday it plans to raise US$200 million in a syndicated loan, the latest
borrowing by a local financial company that aims to help improve foreign currency
liquidity conditions.
The lender said it plans to borrow loans in two tranches. The first will be a
roughly $30 million two-year loan that will carry an interest rate of 4.2
percentage points higher than the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). The
other remaining loan will mature in one year and carry an interest rate of 3.7
percentage points above the LIBOR.
KDB said the exact allocations will be decided soon after the final agreement
with 13 foreign lenders.
"There has been almost no borrowing through a syndicated loan in the aftermath of
the collapse of Lehman Brothers in mid-September," an official at KDB said. "The
lender's foreign borrowing indicates that foreign currency funding conditions are
improving."
In January, the state lender raised $2 billion by selling foreign-currency
denominated bonds.
South Korea's foreign currency liquidity situation has recently improved as local
banks beef up efforts to borrow from overseas and the country's current account
balance returns to the black.
Hana Bank, the country's No. 4 lender, has raised $1 billion by selling
government-guaranteed bonds, becoming the first local lender to tap into a state
debt guarantee program. The government has also issued $3 billion in
dollar-denominated currency stabilization bonds, the first state debt sale since
November 2006.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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