Korea Hydro eyes dollar bond sale -source

HONG KONG May 20 (Reuters) - Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, a unit of South Korean electricity provider KEPCO (015760.KS) is eyeing a dollar bond sale within the first half of the year, a company source with direct knowledge of the plans said on Wednesday.

State-run KHNP has hired Barclays Capital, Citigroup (C.N), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) to explore its options, the source said, declining to be identified because no formal announcement has been made.

The nuclear power plant operator is also looking at the alternative of raising debt domestically, and has not made a final decision as to how it will proceed, according to the source.

"We are in the process of evaluating which method is more preferable," said the source, regarding tapping either the domestic or global debt investors.

"We are looking at both markets. I'm not sure that we will definitely go in the first half, but we are reviewing the process with the investment banks," he added.

KHNP is rated "A" by Standard & Poor's, "A2" by Moody's, and "A-plus" by Fitch, all in line with the agencies' sovereign ratings for South Korea.

Utility firms are expected to be among the most active issuers of overseas debt from Asia this year, given the need to raise money to fund their operations.

The sector is also looking to take advantage of the strong global demand seen for higher-rated or government-backed debt from Asia on the back of improving market conditions.

Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) itself is in the midst of meetings with bond investors this week, though it has not announced a sale, while Korea Gas Corp (036460.KS) is looking to sell about $500 million in dollar bonds in June, sources had previously told Reuters.

Philippine state agency PSALM, which oversees the assets and debts of power producer National Power Corp, on Tuesday raised $1 billion in 10-year dollar bonds. [ID:nN19440304] (Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)