Lee & Ko represented Shinhan Card, Korea’s leading credit card company, in its public offering of US$400 million global social bonds. This marks the first foreign currency denominated social bond issuance by a Korean credit card company, as well as the first foreign currency denominated bond issuance by a Korean credit card company since the 2008 financial crisis. Despite the increased volatility in domestic and foreign financial markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the offering was recognized as having paved a new path to the offshore bond market.
The offering closed with immense interest from offshore investors, with orders across Asia, Europe and the Middle East adding up to more than US$1.5 billion, or about 3.8 times Shinhan Card’s initial target. Owing to favorable ratings from global credit rating agencies, interest rate was also reduced 32.5 basis points from the initial rate. The proceeds will fund small and medium-sized enterprises and support the financially marginalized impacted by COVID-19.
BNP Paribas, Citigroup Global Markets, HSBC, and Standard Chartered served as the joint lead managers, while the Lee & Ko team consisted of capital markets partners Hyunjoo Oh and Seung-A Hyun, along with capital markets associates Dong Yon Kim, Sang Hyun Ahn, Sarah Kang, and Cheong Su Noh.