News

Two Singapore-based banks printed Australian dollar deals via local branches in early August, both achieving pricing records and one brought its green-bond programme back to the local market. Deal sources tell KangaNews the dearth of senior term funding from financial institutions (FIs) means credit spreads should remain tight for the foreseeable future.

The Australian securitisation market is in the middle of another issuance deluge. Similar to the last concentration of deals, in March and April, a variety of issuers report strong demand producing record transaction volume and pricing. There is also more supply on the immediate horizon.

Asian Development Bank’s second Kauri gender bond brought supranational, sovereign and agency supply in New Zealand to nearly NZ$2 billion (US$1.4 billion) for July and within striking distance of an annual record. The issuer says thematic bonds are giving it greater traction with investors.

DWPF Finance returned to the Australian dollar market for its first new deal in six years on 27 July. Deal sources say the issuer was keen to hit the deepest pocket of Australian dollar demand and to establish a longer point on its curve, eventually receiving good support for both the seven- and 11-year tranches it offered.

Bluestone Group printed its debut prime residential mortgage-backed securities deal on 21 July in a deal supported by the lender’s recent partnership with Athena. Having built market presence with its nonconforming product, Bluestone now expects the majority of its issuance to be in the prime category, while it is also teasing an imminent New Zealand dollar debut.

Australia’s buy-now, pay-later securitisation sector received a significant stamp of approval in July as Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the top tranches of all three of Zip Co’s outstanding transactions to Aaa. The rating agency had previously withheld the top mark based on the relative infancy of Zip and the BNPL asset class, and the issuer now says it hopes to see a cost-of-funds benefit from the development.

By adding a 15-year point on its curve, South Australian Government Financing Authority’s latest syndicated deal suggests continued investor appetite for longer-dated issuance.

In May, BNZ and KangaNews carried out an unprecedented survey of New Zealand’s institutional fixed-income investors as the first step in a bank project to identify and progress challenges and opportunities facing the local market. Having digested the results of the survey, BNZ also hosted a panel of investors to discuss its results in more detail.

At the start of June, KangaNews and Westpac brought together New Zealand’s biggest government-sector issuers in Wellington to discuss the path of their market from the depths of the crisis back to functionality, the new challenges of 2021 and the outlook for a raft of factors – including sustainable-finance evolution, inflation-linked issuance and the long-dated market.

KangaNews and Westpac Institutional Bank hosted their annual roundtable for Australia’s sovereign and semi-government issuers in June – via audioconference, as the discussion happened as many Australian states were re-entering lockdown following the latest outbreak of COVID-19. Despite the sting in the pandemic’s tail, issuers are confident about the resilience and functionality of their market as they enter new financial years.

Firstmac’s entrance into green residential mortgage-backed securities issuance is a first for the Australian market as the whole deal – not just selected tranches – is in certified green format. The issuer and the deal’s two investors – Norinchukin and Clean Energy Finance Corporation – say it could seed a promising future for environmentally backed securitisation in Australia.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Monetary Policy Committee decided on 14 July to halt its large-scale asset purchase programme before the end of the month due to the trajectory of New Zealand’s recovery from COVID-19. New Zealand is ahead of the developed world in its tightening cycle but analysts believe the market and economy is ready for this withdrawal of stimulus.