News
Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) capped an active month of funding with US dollar tier-two and Australian dollar residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) deals on consecutive days. The issuer tells KangaNews it brought forward some funding to take advantage of strong conditions and is now well set for the near term.
Newcastle Permanent Building Society (NPBS)’s latest transaction suggests growing investor interest in the mutual bank sector – including from offshore. NPBS priced its A$225 million (US$153.7 million), five-year, floating-rate note (FRN) deal on 21 January, led by ANZ and National Australia Bank.
Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s 15 January deal is a sign the Kauri market has returned with a willingness to price in line with global benchmarks, deal sources say.
ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) says it brought forward its recent tier-two transaction in the US to take advantage of strong market conditions at the start of the year.
Offshore bids made up a hefty chunk of the investor base for Treasury Corporation of Victoria (TCV)’s recent deal.
KangaNews talks to Yo Takatsuki, head of ESG research at AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) in London, about the ground-breaking guidelines for transition bonds his firm published in June 2019. Takatsuki was instrumental in formulating the guidelines. He shares his insights into the urgency of opening up the transition pathway so carbon-intensive industries are encouraged to work towards aligning with the Paris Agreement.
The Kangaroo supranational, sovereign and agency (SSA) market has started 2019 with a trickle rather than its usual flood and intermediaries say Australian dollar pricing has been uncompetitive compared with offshore markets. They report solid fundamental demand but say a supply uptick is unlikely until there is a shift in the basis swap and pricing expectations.
Contact Energy (Contact)’s new sustainability-linked loan (SLL) incentivises improvements in areas such as corporate governance, stakeholder engagement and environmental impact. Participants in the deal believe that the SLL product will be applicable for a broad set of borrowers in New Zealand as it is elsewhere.
Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) executed a multitranche senior-unsecured deal and a covered-bond transaction in the US dollar market on 9 January 2020. The issuer says it received strong ongoing support as major-bank benchmark deals continue to flow freely in domestic and global markets, though the US has been the jewel in the crown.
As part of a rare and brief visit to Australia in December 2019, Marilyn Ceci, managing director and head of green bonds at J.P. Morgan in New York, met with KangaNews. Ceci does not predict that use-of-proceeds sustainable bonds will give way to general-corporate-purposes issuance with an environmental, social and governance (ESG) overlay. She views the urgency of the low-carbon-economy transition to be such that all well-considered, meaningful and deliberate steps on the sustainability path are critical.
National Australia Bank (NAB) says the increase in Australian dollar tier-two issuance has influenced the pricing equilibrium of senior paper. On 13 January, NAB printed its first domestic senior deal since the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s decision on local total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) in July 2019.
New Zealand Green Investment Finance (NZGIF) is a pillar of the government’s strategy for the environment. The fund now has the green light to deploy its NZ$100 million (US$66.5 million) of mandated funds. Wellington-based chief executive, Craig Weise, speaks with KangaNews about the green bank’s flexible strategy, long-term horizons and how it will go about crowding in private-sector investment.