News
Ongoing strong demand from domestic investors for seven-year tenor, which supported attractive pricing, provided the necessary backdrop for Eastern Distributor's debut Australian dollar deal on November 26. The transaction, issued via finance entity AMT Management, will fund the borrower's upcoming A$295 million (US$276.8 million) July 2014 maturity.
Speaking at an investor and dealer lunch in Sydney, the state treasurer of Western Australia (WA), Troy Buswell, emphasised the importance the state government places on its rating. Buswell admitted that ratings preservation may not have been a sufficiently high priority in the past, but insisted that WA's September downgrade by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) has focused the attention of government – even if there is a political cost.
Rentenbank (AAA/Aaa/AAA) priced an increase to its April 2024 Kangaroo line on November 27. According to KangaNews data, the transaction is the second tap of the line which was introduced on September 25 this year with a volume of A$200 million (US$182.4 million) and pricing of 93.5 basis points over Australian Government bond (ACGB). The line was first increased by A$150 million on October 9 with pricing of 97 basis points over ACGB.
On November 25, Transpower priced its latest listed bond offer; a NZ$200 million (US$163.8 million) tap to its existing NZ$125 million notes due November 2018. The tap was upsized from an initial NZ$100 million.
ASB Bank (AA-/Aa3/AA-) priced a new NZ$320 million (US$262.5 million) three-year floating-rate note (FRN) transaction on November 27. The self-led transaction was upsized from a minimum volume of NZ$100 million.
Eastern Distributor (A3/A-), through its financing entity AMT Management, priced its inaugural fixed-rate seven-year domestic deal on November 26.
Provisional ratings have been assigned to Bluestone Group (Bluestone)'s first public Australian dollar residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issue since December 2007. The transaction, Sapphire XII Series 2013-1 Trust, has an indicative volume of A$153.4 million (US$140.5 million) across nine tranches.
Even in the second to last full week of the penultimate month of the year the Australian primary market shows little sign of slowing down. Notable deals include the all-time record single-transaction volume placed by the Australian Office of Financial Management and a debut Kangaroo from Anglo American Capital.
On November 22, ME Bank (BBB+/A3) priced a new three-year benchmark floating-rate note (FRN) in the Australian dollar market.