News
KiwiRail has completed the first-ever Climate Bonds Initiative certified shipping green loan, marking what deal participants say is an important development for a hard-to-abate industry for which the technology and fuel for decarbonisation does not yet exist.
Ausgrid Finance’s euro market return continues its ambition to term out bank debt since privatisation in 2016. Deal sources say the transaction, and Ausgrid’s intentions to be a regular issuer into the market, received significant investor interest.
Westpac Banking Corporation’s return to residential mortgage-backed securities issuance, a A$1.2 billion (US$876 million) funding-only deal, matched the tightest pricing for the asset class in Australia since the financial crisis despite a recent flurry of issuance. The bank says it is returning to a wholesale funding profile similar to its pre-crisis norms, with a consequent expectation of using diverse issuance options.
UDC Finance, New Zealand’s largest nonbank lender, completed a record-sized deal with the pricing of a NZ$400 million (US$280 million) auto asset-backed securities transaction on 23 September. Evolving momentum in New Zealand securitisation has changed the issuer’s thinking on likely need to tap foreign-currency markets for wholesale funding.
Securitisers not embracing sustainability-aligned issuance could expose themselves to future pricing risk as investor mandates demand more green bonds, according to market participants speaking about a new Australian Securitisation Forum-Perpetual report.
Allied Credit’s second auto and equipment asset-backed securities transaction significantly improved pricing from its first, just under one year ago. The more pleasing aspect, however, was bringing in several new investors, according to the issuer.
The New Zealand corporate bond market has seen a flurry of recent deals aimed at retail investors, with more than NZ$1 billion (US$701 million) issued so far over September. Borrowers are taking advantage of heightened retail demand.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s recent green bond is the bank’s first since March 2017. The issuer says it is committed to supporting the growth of green issuance in the Australian dollar market and, while it is taking a conservative view on eligible assets, it expects supply capacity to grow over time.
Woolworths printed its debut sustainability-linked bond on 9 September, also its first foray into the euro market. With a single target – greenhouse-gas emissions reduction – deal sources say execution was straightforward and demand abundant in Europe and beyond. Woolworths is now marketing an Australian dollar follow-up deal.
New South Wales Treasury Corporation’s recent A$4 billion syndicated deal was the first ever dual-tranche floating-rate note transaction from a semi-government issuer. The issuer says it offered this structure to gain interest from its targeted Australian deposit-taking institution investors.
Prospa debuted in the securitisation market on 9 September with a A$200 million (US$145.2 million), National Australia Bank-arranged deal that is the first to be backed by small-business loans and lines of credit in Australia. Prospa’s chief financial officer, Ross Aucutt, treasury manager, Sanam Vikash and, capital management adviser, Raj Bhat, discuss the transaction’s complexities.
Treasury Corporation of Victoria returned to green, social and sustainability bond issuance on 16 September with an invigorated and larger programme. The borrower wants its new 2035 sustainability bond to be considered a part of, rather than an adjunct to, its vanilla curve and as such it plans further to increase its volume on issue from the initial A$2.5 billion (US$1.8 billion).