News
In 2020, for the first edition of its Women in Capital Markets Yearbook, KangaNews surveyed female industry participants to gauge their views on gender equity. Returning to a similar set of questions two years later, it appears the changes to working practice accelerated by the pandemic have had little or no impact on diversity. Women are still hopeful of improvement over time, however.
The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute says there should be no delay in the deployment of its taxonomy in the development and labelling of green financial products once the final document is published. The recommendation forms part of the institute’s latest taxonomy working paper and follows the federal government’s recent push to accelerate the adoption of sustainable finance.
After an annus horribilis for bond investment in 2022, investors believe the new year should hold better tidings. A change in central bank tone bodes well for fixed-income performance, while fund managers are increasingly confident that 2022’s asset pricing reset was sufficient to restore fixed income’s defensive characteristics after many years of distortion caused by low rates and QE.
The forced sale of a substantial volume of Australian securitisation assets as a sector of UK investors scrambled to raise liquidity after the country’s catastrophic mini-budget could increase demand in the longer term. European market participants speaking at the Australian Securitisation Forum’s 2022 conference say the sell-off demonstrated liquidity many global investors did not believe the Australian asset class possessed and new buyers are emerging as a result.
National Australia Bank’s latest domestic print illustrates the scale of ongoing demand for senior bank debt among local investors, the issuer says. The deal was Australia’s equal largest credit transaction of all time, matching an October print by ANZ Banking Group. With plenty of liquidity on offer the close timing aided price discovery.
KangaNews is proud to announce the winners of the institutional and deal categories in the KangaNews Awards 2022. At the end of another hectic year in the Australian and New Zealand capital markets, KangaNews received votes from hundreds of market participants keen to recognise the achievements of 2022's most outstanding performers.
Transpower New Zealand returned to the Australian dollar market for the first time since 2014 for its latest green-bond transaction, banking on latent demand from local buyers to help diversify the borrower’s investor base. Transpower says limited Australian domestic corporate issuance was a concern but local investors ultimately provided a substantial oversubscription.
The combination of tighter margins and the depth available in the 144A market supported ASB Bank’s second US dollar trade this calendar year. Deal participants say the transaction drew strong interest from Asian accounts, which were attracted by the diversification and high quality of New Zealand bank credit.
New Zealand Debt Management and its leads are confident the first-ever New Zealand sovereign green bond achieved the best possible pricing, but are reluctant to assign a specific ‘greenium’ to the trade given the range of factors at play. The issuer intends its first green bond to be part of its nominal curve and will be closely monitoring liquidity in the year before it becomes the on-the-run 10-year New Zealand government bond.
In a further sign that a less frenetic future path of Reserve Bank of Australia rate hikes is allowing confidence to seep back into Australian high-grade issuance, KfW Bankengruppe conducted a rare large-volume, late-year foray into the Kangaroo market on 15 November. Demand was largely international but the issuer says it was pleasantly surprised by the scale of the bid.
Offshore investors drove the execution of the Australian Office of Financial Management’s latest syndication, including Asian accounts taking one-third of the book. Market participants say the Reserve Bank of Australia easing back on its hiking path is helping entice international accounts back to the Australian dollar primary market.
The days of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities as a standalone bond issuer are over as the New Zealand government announced on 11 November that the public housing agency’s future debt requirements will be funded directly by the sovereign, via New Zealand Debt Management.