South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday its U.S. financial unit has raised a combined $1 billion by selling dollar-denominated bonds in New York in a bid to secure funds for marketing promotions.

Hyundai Capital America issued two kinds of $500 million bonds denominated in dollars due in either three or five years, Hyundai Motor said in a statement.

The three-year bond has a coupon rate of 1.625 percent, 1.3 percentage points above U.S. treasury bond yields, while the five-year debt has a yield of 2.125 percent, 1.5 percentage points higher.

The company said its latest bonds have higher prices than its U.S. unit’s debts sold last year, at 3.15 percentage points above the U.S. government bond rates.

“Despite higher prices, the bonds attracted more investment than we expected,” said the company. “We could raise a fund in the U.S. bond market for our business in the country.”

Proceeds of the debt sale will be used to offer financing programs to U.S. customers, said the carmaker.

The bond sale was arranged by Citi Global Markets, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, it added. (Yonhap News)