Woori Bank issues $800 mln of global bonds

(ATTN: ADDS details, comment in para 5, 6)
SEOUL, July 28 (Yonhap) -- Woori Bank, South Korea's second-largest lender, said
Tuesday it has raised US$800 million by selling dollar-denominated bonds abroad
to repay maturing debts.
The five-and-a-half year debts carry an interest rate of 3.84 percent points more
than the London Interbank Offered Rate and were sold in U.S. and European
markets, Woori Bank said.
The bonds were assigned an A2 rating by global credit evaluator Moody's Investors
Service while receiving A- grades from both Standard & Poor's Ratings Service and
Fitch Ratings, the lender said in a statement.
The notes, which are not backed by the government's debt guarantee program, will
be listed on the Singapore Exchange, the lender said.
The proceeds from the notes will used to refinance its $750 million foreign debts
maturing in the second half of this year and provide financing for local traders,
it said.
"Foreign investors with ample liquidity seem to focus their interests on Korean
bonds amid an absence of other attractive investments," a Woori Bank official
said.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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