News

Rentenbank hopes the forthcoming formalisation of its guarantee from the German sovereign will help it to widen its investor base and add price tension to its curve in global markets, including in Australian dollars. But although the agency identifies some early tightening in its secondary spreads following the guarantee announcement, it is also realistic about the likely gains to be made from having an explicit sovereign guarantee.

The most recent transaction to price in the Kauri market attracted a diverse spread of demand from both domestic and international investors, sources connected with the deal tell KangaNews. International Finance Corporation (IFC) issued a new line of Kauri bonds on 21 August, pricing NZ$300 million (US$243.9 million) of fixed-rate notes maturing on September 5 2017.

Deal flow returned to the Australian market after a week-long hiatus with a diversity of borrowers comprising a Kangaroo, a pair of corporates and two banking sector transactions. The Australian securitisation market also saw deal action as a single trade priced, while across the Tasman one Kauri was issued.

National Australia Bank (NAB) (AA-/Aa2/AA-) priced its fourth domestic benchmark transaction of 2012 on August 23, in the form of a new line of floating rate notes due March 4 2016. NAB most recently visited the domestic public market in June this year when it topped up a February 2017 dual tranche domestic bond by A$1.5 billion (US$1.6 billion), at 165 basis points over swap. NAB is the sole lead for the new deal.

Caterpillar Financial Australia (Caterpillar) (A/A2/A) tripled the volume of its fourth transaction in the AUD market in 2012. The deal launched on August 23 at A$100 million (US$105.1 million) of new two-year bonds and adds to the A$450 million Caterpillar has already placed this year.

Hybrid issuance successfully returned to the Australian market in August thanks in part to a groundswell of support for corporate transactions from institutional investors, sources connected with recent deals say. Demand was sufficient for APA Group (APA) and Crown to add A$125 million (US$130.8 million) apiece to their retail deals, following an even larger upsize by Caltex Australia (Caltex) at the start of the month.

In its second deal of 2012, ING Bank Sydney (A+/A2/A+) launched a new three-year transaction on August 21, which priced on August 22. The Sydney branch last came to the domestic market in April this year with a one-year transaction for a total of A$100 million (US$104.4 million), priced at 100 basis points over the bank bill swap rate.

In its first Kauri deal of 2012, International Finance Corporation (IFC) (AAA/Aaa) priced a new five-year line on August 21. The deal is the 10th Kauri overall for 2012 and the first to price since the end of July; it takes cumulative Kauri volume to NZ$2.15 billion (US$1.74 billion) for the year to date.

Preliminary ratings have been assigned to a new asset-backed securities (ABS) transaction to be issued by Macquarie Leasing (Macquarie). The deal, which will be the third to be issued off Macquarie's Smart programme this year, is the issuer's first securitisation based solely on equipment lease receivables according to a preliminary report released by Fitch Ratings (Fitch) on August 20.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) adjusted its trading income downwards by A$90 million (US$94.2 million) in the second half of its 2011/12 financial year as a result of credit valuation adjustment (CVA) expense. Over the full financial year the impact was negative A$127 million, while the bank was able to report a positive impact of A$103 million from CVA movements in 2010/11.

Subdued deal flow was the most notable characteristic of a week in which Australian corporate reporting season got into full swing. Just a single transaction priced in the Australian domestic market, while Kangaroo and securitisation markets remained shuttered. No new transactions were publicly priced in New Zealand, from either domestic or international issuers.

Australia's Export Finance & Insurance Corporation (EFIC) (AAA) issued US$40 million of callable, capped floating rate notes on August 9. According to Chris Collard, director, treasury at EFIC in Sydney, the deal was executed in response to reverse enquiry and the proceeds were swapped to floating rate USD at a margin below six-month Libor.