News
SkyCity Entertainment Group has returned to the New Zealand domestic market – for the first time since 2015 – with a new six-year deal. Market tailwinds in the week of execution allowed a favourable margin revision for a borrower that acknowledges COVID-19 disruption but says it is emerging robustly from the pandemic.
On 20 May, following the government’s budget update, New Zealand Debt Management (NZDM) confirmed a NZ$30 billion (US$21.5 billion) borrowing requirement for the 2021/22 financial year – unchanged from its half-year economic and fiscal update from late 2020. NZDM also confirmed that its 2020/21 funding task remains at NZ$45 billion.
The weeks prior to the end of the Reserve Bank pf Australia’s term funding facility offer a window of opportunity for offshore financial institutions to execute Australian dollar deals before technical conditions potentially change, lead managers. A recent Kangaroo from Barclays provides a compelling case study.
ASB Bank has re-entered the wholesale funding market for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began with a brace of new deals. The New Zealand dollar senior and euro covered bond transactions were well supported and indicate a robust investor view on New Zealand credit, the borrower says.
New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA)’s new 10-year deal shows signs of a longer-duration bank balance-sheet bid in the local market, a development the issuer says is encouraging for other borrowers seeking longer-tenor debt.
Intermediaries say factors including record pricing and the imminent end of the term funding facility supported a frenetic period of nonbank securitisation issuance from mid-April to early May. Deal flow was well absorbed by a market that has been undersupplied with new credit issuance.
Westpac Banking Corporation’s green tier-two deal in the euro market, which priced on 6 May, was the bank’s first green-bond foray in more than three years. The market has evolved substantially and the issuer says the investor-relations process in Europe has ratcheted up its focus on borrowers’ environmental, social and governance credentials.
Athena and Bluestone Mortgages say their whole-loan funding arrangement presents opportunities for both to grow sustainably and to leverage each other’s knowledge set. The strategic partnership will provide up to A$2 billion (US$1.6 billion) of whole-loan funding to Athena Home Loans over the next three years.
The emergence of the sustainability-linked loan format presented ISPT with the opportunity it had been seeking to align treasury strategy with the company’s wider environmental, social and governance goals. Having applied a sustainability framework to all the ISPT Core Fund’s debt and included the flexibility to use multiple instrument types, ISPT hopes to use the framework for future issuance.
Athena and Bluestone Mortgages say their whole-loan funding arrangement presents opportunities for both to grow sustainably and to leverage each other’s knowledge set. The strategic partnership will provide up to A$2 billion (US$1.6 billion) of whole-loan funding to Athena Home Loans over the next three years.
World Bank broke a three-month drought of Kauri supranational, sovereign and agency issuance with a blockbuster NZ$1 billion (US$716.2 million) seven-year deal on 28 April. The deal was quickly followed by more Kauri supply including the return of KfW Bankengruppe after a lengthy absence.
Firstmac’s latest residential mortgage-backed securities deal was the highlight of five nonbank transactions to print in the second half of April. The issuer achieved a volume and pricing record despite a crowded market.