Kookmin issues Asia's first covered bond

South Korea's biggest lender Kookmin Bank raised $1 billion from a five-year covered bond issue yesterday morning, after attracting orders worth $6 billion from 250 accounts worldwide.

It was the first ever sale of covered bonds in Asia and Kookmin, a unit of KB Financial Group, was able to price the deal at a lower yield and relative spread than it had indicated during the global marketing process. The deal was organised by joint lead managers Citigroup and HSBC.

In a media conference call yesterday, Kookmin Bank chief executive Chungwon Kang said he was very pleased with the pricing level, commensurate as it was with recent issues by Korean policy banks and government-guaranteed...