Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea's largest flag carrier, said Tuesday it will sell more than 500 billion won ($455 million) worth of shares to raise money needed to repay debt.

The company's board of directors decided to sell 14,164,306 shares at 35,300 won apiece, it said in a regulatory filing.

The share offering will increase the number of the company's outstanding shares to 73,950,538.

Korean Air said the raised money will be used to repay debts and improve its financial status.

"This will help us increase our capital, reduce our debt and lower the debt ratio by 200 percentage points, which would save about 20 billion won in annual interest payments," the company said.

The decision was announced after the local stock market closed. Shares of Korean Air fell 1.19 percent to 45,650 won versus the benchmark KOSPI's 1.74 percent drop.

(Yonhap)