Cleary Gottlieb represented the Republic of Korea in a U.S. registered offering of $500 million 3.625% notes due 2015 and $400 million 5.625% notes due 2025. The notes were listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. ABN AMRO, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C. and UBS were the joint lead managers and bookrunners for the offering.
Korea’s global notes include collective action clauses designed to promote expeditious and orderly restructurings and workout procedures for sovereign debtors should a sovereign debt crisis ever occur. One of the most important of these clauses is a majority amendment clause, which allows the holders of 75% of the outstanding principal amount of the notes to approve changes to the payment terms and other key provisions of the notes.
This offering was a takedown from Korea’s $5 billion U.S. debt shelf registration statement, filed in September 2004.