IPO and Large-Scale Paid-In Capital Increases Decline... Corporate Direct Financing Down 15.6% in First Half

Financial Supervisory Service Reports Corporate Direct Financing Performance for the First Half of the Year

In the first half of this year, corporate direct financing through stocks and corporate bonds decreased by more than 15% compared to a year ago. This is attributed to the decline in initial public offerings (IPOs) and large-scale paid-in capital increases, as well as a sharp drop in general corporate bond issuance. On the other hand, issuance of commercial paper (CP) and short-term bonds increased significantly due to expanded demand for short-term funds.

According to the ‘Direct Corporate Financing Performance for the First Half of 2026’ released by the Financial Supervisory Service on August 4, the total amount raised through stock and corporate bond issuance stood at 126.5754 trillion won, a decrease of 23.3570 trillion won (15.6%) from the same period last year. During the same period, the combined amount raised via CP and short-term bonds was 1,272.8483 trillion won, up by 515.1069 trillion won (68.0%) year-on-year.

Stock issuance in the first half amounted to 2.9786 trillion won, marking a 29.6% decrease. The number of IPOs was 28, with a total of 1.0141 trillion won, down 4.351 trillion won (30.0%) from 42 cases totaling 1.4492 trillion won in the same period last year. The Financial Supervisory Service commented, “The number of IPOs has declined, and new listings mostly centered on small and midsize IPOs.” In the KOSPI market, there was only one IPO in the first half, that of K Bank, totaling 249 billion won. As for paid-in capital increases, there were 23 cases, nearly the same as last year, but with fewer large-scale paid-in capital increases of 100 billion won or more, the corresponding total fell by 29.5% to just 1.9645 trillion won.

Corporate bond issuance totaled 123.5968 trillion won, down 15.2% from the previous year. Of this, general corporate bonds accounted for 25.9052 trillion won, a decrease of 31.5%, marking the sharpest drop among all categories. Among newly issued general corporate bonds, 72.9% of funds were used for refinancing existing debt, while working capital and facility investments accounted for 23.6% and 3.6%, respectively.

Financial bond issuance stood at 90.4157 trillion won, a 7.2% decrease. Financial holding company bonds and bank bonds increased by 3.2% and 0.9%, respectively, but other financial bonds plunged 12.0%. Notably, issuance of securities company financial bonds stood at 9.9 trillion won, up 41.8% from last year. Issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) amounted to 7.2759 trillion won, representing a 30.6% decrease. In particular, issuance of primary collateralized bond obligations (P-CBOs), which support fundraising by mid-sized and smaller companies, shrank by 41.5%.

Meanwhile, short-term funding grew substantially. CP issuance was 282.7547 trillion won, up 19.0%, and short-term bond issuance was 990.0936 trillion won, posting a 90.4% increase. Growth was led by a dramatic 121.1% rise in ordinary short-term bonds.

As of the end of the first half of this year, the outstanding balance of corporate bonds stood at 757.239 trillion won, up 37.0246 trillion won (5.1%) from the end of the first half last year. General corporate bonds, however, recorded a net redemption of 9.5992 trillion won as new issuance fell short of maturing amounts.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.