South Korea Financial Supervisory Service reports May corporate equity and debt issuance down 10.9% as short term funding rises 14.5%

The South Korea Financial Supervisory Service published its May 2026 corporate financing statistics, showing that equity and debt issuance totaled KRW20.1409 trillion, down 10.9% from April. The decline came even though equity issuance jumped to KRW1.3596 trillion from KRW413.6 billion, because debt issuance fell 15.4% to KRW18.7813 trillion. By contrast, funding through commercial paper and short-term bonds rose 14.5% on the month to KRW259.3870 trillion, pointing to heavier use of short-dated instruments. Within equity financing, initial public offering proceeds fell 29.8% to KRW110.7 billion across four deals, while two public equity offerings lifted rights offering proceeds to KRW1.2489 trillion. The drop in debt issuance was driven mainly by a 49.2% fall in corporate bond issuance to KRW2.1200 trillion and a decline in financial debentures to KRW15.1898 trillion. Of corporate bonds issued in May, 61.8% was used to repay existing debt, all issuance was rated AA or higher, and 96.2% was in mid-term maturities. Asset-backed securities issuance increased 8.7% to KRW1.4715 trillion, supported by a 165.3% rise in primary collateralized bond obligation issuance. In short-term markets, commercial paper issuance fell 18.7% to KRW45.8292 trillion, including a 55.6% drop in project finance asset-backed commercial paper, while short-term bond issuance rose 25.4% to KRW213.5578 trillion. At the end of May, outstanding balances stood at KRW749.3958 trillion for debt securities, KRW246.8942 trillion for commercial paper and KRW104.4152 trillion for short-term bonds.