Corporate direct financing up 19% in 2021

Corporate direct financing by firms in South Korea jumped 19 percent on-year in 2021 driven by multiple massive initial public offerings (IPOs), data showed Tuesday.

Local companies raised a combined 231.48 trillion won ($194 billion) by selling stocks and bonds last year, up 37 trillion won from the previous year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

Direct financing refers to raising funds directly from the stock and bond markets without borrowing from banks and other financial institutions.

Stock sales came to 29.1 trillion won last year, up 166.5 percent from a year earlier, driven mostly by large-scale IPOs.

There were a total of 110 IPOs last year, through which companies raised a combined 14.52 trillion won, the largest ever. The amount was up 219.8 percent from a year earlier.

The sharp increase came as such high-profile companies as internet-only firm Kakao Bank and online gaming company Krafton successfully went public amid the overall market boom.

Bond sales also increased 10.3 percent on-year to 202.4 trillion won, the data showed. (Yonhap)