Bangkok--31 Jul--HSBC OVERWHELMING DEMAND FOR KEXIM’S INAUGURAL THAI BAHT BOND ISSUE The Export—Import Bank of Korea, Republic of Korea’s only pure policy bank, has made an impressive debut in the Thai Baht Bond market, overcoming the extreme volatility of the global markets. Given its strong support from the Korean government, KEXIM has been assigned credit ratings of Aa3/A/A+ by Moody’s/S&P/Fitch, respectively. KEXIM is the only Korean issuer who obtained permission from the Thai Ministry of Finance (MoF) to issue Baht-denominated bonds in the second half of 2008. With overwhelming demand from institutional investors, the combined order-book was Thai Baht 9.6 billion, representing almost 5 times oversubscription of the original planned issuance of Thai Baht 2.0 billion. This allowed KEXIM’s bonds to be upsized to Thai Baht 3.5 billion (the maximum limit of MoF’s approval). The total Thai Baht 3.5 billion was split into 2 tranches, 3-year and 10-year maturity with an issue size of Thai Baht 2.0 billion and Thai Baht 1.5 billion respectively. The initial coupon range on the 3-year and 10-year tranches was set at 5.39% to 5.59% and 6.28% to 6.48% respectively. The coupons were finally set at 5.39% for the 3-year issue and 6.28% for the 10-year issue. Both tranches closed at the tight end of the initial coupon range. As this is the first Thai Baht bond offering by a Korean issuer, this transaction provides a benchmark for future Thai Baht bonds issued by Korean issuers. KEXIM has selected HSBC to act as the Sole Lead Arranger and the Sole Bookrunner taking into account the bank's experience in the Thai domestic bond market and its strong global relationship with HSBC. Media enquiries to Prakob Phiencharoen on 66 2614 4869 or Kyeom Jin Ko on 822 3706 8893 Notes to editors: 1. HSBC in Thailand HSBC was established as the first commercial bank in Thailand in 1888. With access to global expertise and enriched local knowledge, HSBC in Thailand provides a full range of financial services including corporate and institutional banking, global markets, securities services, trade finance, payment and cash management services to corporate customers; personal financial services and credit cards to a growing retail customer base in Thailand. HSBC is globally recognised for its high service standards, ethical practices and full commitment to corporate social responsibilities to benefit the local economy. For moreinformation please contact Nattanee Kasemrattakul [email protected] TEL. 02 614 4687 FAX 02 632 4830