Koran SMEs are struggling to find serious investors

Finance

Koran SMEs are struggling to find serious investors

Small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Korea have been shunned by investors, although low market rates helped big firms raise more money through debt sales, data showed Monday.

According to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service and the Bank of Korea, the value of bonds by non-financial firms floated between January and July stood at 31.9 trillion won ($26.9 billion), up 36.4 percent from a year ago.

However, no SMEs have succeeded in floating bonds since January, the data showed.

Last year, SMEs sold 130 billion won of bonds, accounting for 0.4 percent of the total value of corporate bonds by non-financial companies.

Analysts said small businesses were shunned by the bond market because most debts of SMEs were rated non-investment grade.

Yonhap