 |
| SK증권 여의도 본사 사옥. (사진=연합뉴스) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Sangjin] On the 7th, Korea Ratings downgraded SK Securities' commercial paper and short-term bonds credit rating from 'A2+' to 'A2'.
In its report, Korea Ratings cited reasons for the downgrade including stagnation in capital size and slow business growth leading to a weakened market position, decreased profitability due to provisions in real estate finance, and inherent financial volatility from long-term investments and subsidiaries like MS Mutual Savings Bank.
Korea Ratings also noted, "Since the second half of 2023, there has been a significant deterioration in the soundness of real estate finance," and pointed out that "although provisions of 44.4 billion won were set aside, the potential for restructuring of bridge loans with deteriorated business viability and the high proportion of mid- to late-stage positions in underperforming project financing (PF) for sales has increased."
Furthermore, Korea Ratings stated, "In the short term, we will monitor the additional provision burden and financial impact from recent measures to clean up the real estate PF market. In the medium to long term, we will monitor the recovery of the market position of major business divisions, structural improvement in profitability, exposure to real estate finance and long-term investment assets, and the level of capital adequacy and liquidity management related to the support burden for MS Mutual Savings Bank."
AlphaBIZ Kim SangJin(letyou@alphabiz.co.kr)
