News
The scale of demand for New Zealand Local Government Agency’s first-ever Australian dollar deal allowed the borrower to become just the second high-grade issuer to debut in the Kangaroo market with a transaction of A$1 billion (US$675.1 billion) or more. The issuer elected to execute during a quiet period for Australian dollar new issuance and was rewarded with pricing that is says is highly competitive with – and had a tightening impact on – its domestic curve.
The A$1.6 billion equivalent green loan recently completed by Vector Metering demonstrates the potential for use-of-proceeds financing to support energy transition and asset growth, deal sources say. The deal – the first in the world to come to market under updated Climate Bonds Initiative standards – could also in time be termed out in the green-bond market.
On 11 July, ANZ announced a swathe of new senior appointments to its global sustainable finance team. Katharine Tapley, head of sustainable finance at ANZ in Sydney, spoke to KangaNews about the makeup of the team, the relevance of key hires’ skill sets and how they align with the bank’s wider sustainable finance strategy.
Nearly three decades after the birth of the supranational, sovereign and agency Kangaroo market, the sector has grown and evolved despite multiple changes of demand drivers. Meanwhile, Kauri market development has been impressive but it will have to work through a new challenge to reach its next phase.
With the second New Zealand-origin covered bond to print in the euro market in less than three weeks, ANZ New Zealand further demonstrated investor appetite for the asset class amid what deal sources say was an improving market tone. ANZ New Zealand achieved notable price tightening, supported by capped deal size and a significantly oversubscribed book.
A change in deal structure gave RedZed an improved cost of funds from its most recent residential mortgage-backed securities transaction compared with its previous public deal, despite identical margins on the class A1 notes. Issuer and arranger say securitisation demand remains constructive and hope for further margin compression in future supply.
The International Sustainability Standards Board published its long-awaited first two global sustainability disclosure standards at the end of June, with the goal of building a rigorous and comparable reporting framework that facilitates sustainable finance. On the day IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 launched, KangaNews caught up with Jingdong Hua, vice chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board, in Singapore to discuss the new standards and how they might be incorporated by national regulators.
In a major overhaul of a longstanding and significant poll, KangaNews is pleased to reveal the results of its Fixed-Income Research Poll. For 13 years, the survey has asked institutional investors in the Australian fixed-income market to rank the research they receive across a range of sectors. Based on investor demand, the poll has now been revamped to also include investor views on the service they receive in secondary markets.
Treasury Corporation of Victoria made early inroads into its 2022/23 funding task with its largest-ever fixed-rate syndication, that saw bonds placed across the issuer’s full gamut of investors. Robust turnover in the state debt management agency’s bonds in the secondary market highlights semi-government sector development and adds to the case for investors to participate, the issuer says.
Columbus Capital was active on 22 June, with the pricing of two separate residential mortgage-backed securities trades on the same day. The issuer says the timing was coincidental and did not interfere with either trade’s reception.
The Green, Social, Sustainability and Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles announced revisions on 22 June after its annual general meeting. The two top deliveries for 2023 are an update to the Climate Transition Finance Handbook and modifications to the Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles to integrate sovereign issuers.
Bank of New Zealand returned to the euro covered bond market for the first time in a year on 20 June, printing a €750 million (US$824.4 million) 5.5-year covered bond. Deal sources laud the transaction’s outcome, despite competing supply and a busy issuance window, largely helped by the measured execution process undertaken by issuer and leads.