News
KangaNews is proud to announce the winners of the institutional and deal categories in the KangaNews Awards 2023. At the end of another busy year in the Australian and New Zealand capital markets, KangaNews received votes from hundreds of market participants keen to recognise the achievements of 2023's most outstanding performers.
Coles Treasury Group’s latest domestic deal hints at the potential of the Australian dollar market at the back end of what has turned into a solid but unspectacular year for corporate issuance. Coles bagged a jumbo book including ample long-end demand and its lead managers say other corporates are seriously considering the domestic market for issuance in the next post-reporting window.
With the success of its debut Kangaroo deal still fresh in the memory, New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency seized the opportunity to return to the Australian dollar market and capitalise on follow-up demand for its name. The issuer says its second Kangaroo deal maintained the combination of adding flexibility and diversity to its funding programme at an attractive price.
MA Money says it was rewarded for its decision to offer its debut residential mortgage-backed securities transaction as a fully public deal by earlier-than-expected demand from key international accounts. The issuer’s aim is to build a programme that reliably issues once or more a year and with this aim in mind it viewed a relatively early public debut as a key step toward investor diversification.
Contact Energy says it has long-term plans to build out its presence in the Australian dollar market following a well-received Kangaroo green-bond debut. The issuer is the fourth New Zealand-based corporate name to print an Australian dollar transaction this year and the second in November.
A desire to further diversify its investor base coupled with appealing landed cost of funds prompted Deutsche Bahn’s return to the domestic Australian dollar market. The deal’s combination of extended duration and high-quality credit appealed to international investors, especially in Asia-Pacific and the UK.
Port of Brisbane and Transurban Queensland’s return to domestic issuance was greeted with solid book volumes and significant margin progression. Deal sources say the much-heralded late-year uptick in Australian dollar corporate deal flow could still eventuate though a changing market backdrop and the limited execution window could make corporate supply fall short of expectations once again.
The Australian dollar securitisation market has continued to offer issuance opportunities for originators of a wide range of collateral despite revived rates uncertainty and an uncertain geopolitical backdrop. Recent issuers from outside the prime mortgage sector note ongoing supportive liquidity, improving pricing conditions and a noteworthy level of domestic investor support.
The Australian auto lending market is undergoing a similar structural shift to that experienced by the nonprime mortgage lending market a few years ago: a wide-scale withdrawal by bank balance sheets and a proliferation of new and existing nonbank lenders. Auto-backed securitisation issuance is booming as a result.
Supranational, sovereign and agency issuance in Australian dollars has had a knock-out year, with new supply surpassing an annual record that had stood for nearly a decade and a half. Supply has resumed after a particularly acute mid-year lull, but intermediaries’ attention is now turning to next year as the new-issuance ground looks less fertile in the near term.
QBE Insurance Group is the latest borrower to find ample demand for Australian dollar tier-two issuance, securing a more than four-times oversubscribed orderbook for its second subordinated deal of the year. The transaction forms part of the group’s new Australian dollar focus, having previously completed most of its funding in US dollars.
Maximising its access to capital across the stack was the primary motivating factor for Judo Bank to bring its first-ever additional tier-one deal to market. The issuer elected to use retail format for the deal despite revived regulatory scrutiny of this avenue of distribution but says its small scale of issuance means the wholesale option would likely be available should it be needed in future.