S.Korea Woori Bank eyes H2 global bond sale -source

SEOUL, July 9 (Reuters) - Woori Bank, South Korea's No. 2 lender, may issue global bonds to the public later this year as it is facing $700 million of overseas loans maturing in the second half, a senior Woori official said on Thursday.

The banking unit of Woori Finance Holdings (053000.KS) is also in the process of exchanging $400 million in junior debt, on which the lender did not exercise a buyback option in March, with new foreign subordinated debt, he told Reuters.

"We can pay back the maturing debt without difficulty. (But) if needed, we can prepare for a public bond sale after monitoring markets," he said. The Woori official asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

"The key is how we can get over investor fatigue with Korean issues."

He did not elaborate on the size of the possible offering.

The official said most existing subordinated debt holders were expected to accept the exchange offer by the deadline on Friday.

Woori Bank spokesman Kim Gi-rin declined to comment.

South Korea was the most active offshore bond seller in Asia in the first half of this year as the government wanted banks and companies to replace short-term foreign debt with longer-dated debt and reduce exposure to market volatility.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea on Tuesday sold $1.5 billion worth of 5-1/2-year senior notes at a yield of 5.999 percent, or 362.5 basis points over comparable U.S. Treasuries. [ID:nN07339983]

South Korea's Suhyup Bank, a specialist lender for the fishing industry, is planning to make a $300 million or bigger five-year global bond issue next week. [ID:nSEO288652]

Separately, Woori is working to sell $500 million worth of residential mortgage-backed securities abroad by late next month or early September, the senior Woori official said. Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) is managing the planned sale, he added.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment. (Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner and Muralikumar Anantharaman)