SK Corp divested a 6.47% stake in SK Telecom yesterday August 3 raising $1.025 billion to fund the redemption of a $1.25 billion exchangeable bond. The success of the new deal marks a far cry from SK Corp's initial attempt to sell the SKT stake via the exchangeable back in July 2002.
At that point, the company had to deal with extremely choppy equity markets and increasingly negative commentary from analysts, including the imposition of a sell recommendation by one of its lead managers mid way through roadshows. However, it turned out to be a perceptive call on the part of Goldman Sachs since the exchangeable never hit its conversion price...