News
Deal flow for the last full week of June comprised only Australian domestic corporate issuance with three new deals – from Dexus Wholesale Property Fund, University of Melbourne and QPH Finance, the financing entity for the group which manages and develops the Port of Brisbane – emerging. Meanwhile, the New Zealand Debt Management Office appointed four banks to lead manage a new 2027 nominal bond.
Port of Brisbane (BBB) set a new pricing benchmark for the Australian domestic market when it returned to issuance after a year's hiatus. The market's currently highly competitive pricing edge is noted by the borrower – which also flags its desire to return to domestic issuance in order to continue building out its curve.
QPH Finance (BBB), the financing entity for the group which manages and develops the Port of Brisbane, launched and priced a new seven-year transaction the Australian domestic market on June 26.
University of Melbourne (AA+) became the second university to access the domestic corporate bond market in 2014, printing a debut A$250 million (US$234.1 million) seven-year issue on June 24. The solid fundamentals of higher-education issuers mean a continued wave of issuance from this sector is unlikely – but this enhances the appeal of these bonds, leads say.
On June 24, University of Melbourne (AA+ by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services) launched and priced a new A$250 million (US$235.2 million) domestic issue in the Australian market.
The New Zealand Debt Management Office (NZDMO) has appointed ANZ, BNZ, Deutsche Bank and UBS as the lead managers for a new April 2027 nominal bond issue. The NZDMO disclosed the makeup of the syndicate on June 24, also revealing it expected to issue NZ$1-2 billion (US$0.87-1.74 billion) in the new bond's debut.
Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) completed its offer of tier-one listed hybrid securities on June 23, also revealing the issue has been further upsized to A$1.31 billion (US$1.24 billion) from A$1 billion, after initially being launched at A$750 million.
Dexus Wholesale Property Fund (DWPF) (A by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services) priced a domestic bond issue in the Australian market on June 23. The five-year transaction printed in line with minimum volume indications of A$100 million (US$94.3 million) and 5 basis points inside price thoughts at 110 basis points over swap.
Australia's second new-style, domestic wholesale tier-two issue from a major bank achieved a price that the issuer says is inside where it could have placed an equivalent transaction offshore. The deal's primary margin also suggests that, although it has been a gradual process, Australia's new-style tier-two paper is beginning to perform domestically.
Kauri deal flow continued at a steady pace for another week as three borrowers priced taps to existing 2019 New Zealand dollar lines. In the Australian market, ANZ priced 2014's second big-four bank wholesale tier-two issue and World Bank printed its largest-ever single tranche AUD-denominated offering.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) (AAA/Aaa) priced a new deal in the New Zealand domestic market on June 20. The forthcoming transaction is the first tap to ADB's NZ$225 million (US$196.1 million) March 2019 Kauri bond that was priced at 23 basis points over mid-swap in February this year.