Incumbent telco Korea Telecom Corp is planning a Swiss franc bond offering in order to refinance its existing debt. The size and terms of the debt financing have yet to be decided.
Net proceeds from the offering will be used principally to repay…
Incumbent telco Korea Telecom Corp is planning a Swiss franc bond offering in order to refinance its existing debt. The size and terms of the debt financing have yet to be decided.
Net proceeds from the offering will be used principally to repay existing debt maturing in early 2012, including the W100bn (US$88m) unsecured 4.37% 3-year notes that KT Corp issued in May 2009. The remainder will be used for general corporate purposes.
Fitch Ratings has assigned the proposed Swiss franc bond an expected rating of ‘A(exp)’ in line with the company’s long-term foreign currency rating of ‘A’.
KT Corp, which is listed on the South Korean, US and UK stock exchanges, has been a frequent issuer in both the foreign and domestic bond markets in recent years, most recently it W600bn (US$527m) in a triple-tranche domestic note offering in early 2010.
Despite having sold a number of its spacecraft to Asia Broadcast Satellite, most recently Koreasat-3 in May 2010, KT Corp still remains active in the satellite sector. It continues to own two satellites, Koreasat-5 and Koreasat-6, and signed a multi-million dollar transponder leasing with ABS for the latter’s ABS-2 satellite that is scheduled to be operational by Q1 2013. The company also leases capacity from Intelsat and AsiaSat as well as offering a number Inmarsat services including BGAN and its Global Satellite Phone Service (GSPS).
