Major South Korean lender Woori Bank said Friday it has issued AU$400 million ($283 million) in bonds in Australia as part of efforts to help coronavirus-hit South Korean firms and finance eco-friendly projects.

The three-year "Kangaroo" bonds come in two tranches -- floating-rate bonds worth AU$250 million and fixed-rate debt worth AU$150 million, the lender said.

The floating-rate bonds carry an interest rate of 0.72 percentage point above the Australian bank bill swap rate, with the rate coming to 0.839 percent for the fixed-rate ones.

Kangaroo bonds are Australian dollar-denominated bonds floated in Australia by non-residents and classified as environment, social and governance (ESG) bonds -- a type of sustainability debt offering aimed to finance corporate activities in environmentally friendly and sustainable projects.

Woori Bank said it has succeeded in floating the COVID-19 recovery sustainability Kangaroo bonds on the back of its good asset soundness and solid financial performances. (Yonhap)