News
On April 2, Svenska Handelsbanken (AA-/Aa3/AA-) priced a new five-year transaction in what will be the borrower's inaugural Australian dollar deal. The transaction follows a number of debut Kangaroo transactions in 2014, the latest of which was from First Gulf Bank which priced a A$250 million (US$231.2 million) five-year deal on March 25. That transaction had pricing of 177 basis points over the Australian government bond.
Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC) (AA+/Aa1) priced a new AUD-denominated fixed-rate benchmark syndicated line on April 2. According to KangaNews data, the new line extends the borrower's domestic curve out to July 2025 from its previously longest maturity of July 2024.
Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) (AAA/Aaa) priced an increase to its February 2024 Kangaroo bond on April 1. According to KangaNews data, the this is the fifth increase to this line. It was most recently tapped on March 6, for A$100 million (US$92.4 million) at 60.5 basis points over the Australian government bond.
On April 1, Volkswagen Financial Services Australia (Volkswagen Australia) (A-/A3) priced a new four-year domestic deal. The transaction was increased to A$250 million (US$231.8 million) from a minimum A$100 million launch size. The new transaction priced at a margin of 90 basis points over semi-quarterly swap after indicative pricing in the area of 95 basis points over semi-quarterly swap.
ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) completed its offer of tier-one issue securities on April 1, also revealing that the issue has been further upsized to A$1.61 billion (US$1.49 billion) from A$1.30 billion, after initially being launched at A$1.00 billion. ANZ Capital Notes 2 set its margin at 325 basis points over bank bills – the tight end of a 15 basis point marketing range – on February 18.
New Zealand's Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) has initiated the search for a new chief executive following the announcement of the forthcoming retirement of its first-ever leader, Philip Combes. Combes tells KangaNews the agency is in good shape for the future, with offshore ownership of its bonds in particular having seen a significant increase since the middle of last year.
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has elected to make fixed income an important theme of its submission to Australia's financial system inquiry. In the March 31 submission, the ASX claims that the "only market where Australia underperforms currently is the fixed-income market and particularly the corporate bond market".
Australian intermediaries say the debut of First Gulf Bank could be another sign of a growing trend whereby Middle East-origin issuers seek to tap the Australian investor base. The bank became the third from the region – and the second this year – to tap the Kangaroo market when it priced its inaugural issue on March 25.