News
On September 25, BNP Paribas Australian Branch (BNP Paribas Australia) (A+/A+/A2) priced a new four-year Australian dollar line.
On September 25, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) (AAA/Aaa/AAA) priced its seventh Kangaroo deal of 2013, but the first to come at a five-year maturity.
KfW Bankengruppe (KfW) (AAA/Aaa/AAA) priced an increase to its August 2017 Kangaroo on September 24, in a transaction which will add to the A$1 billion already on issue in the line and the A$2.8 billion of Kangaroos KfW has already issued this year. The agency's August 2017 Kangaroo was introduced in a A$650 million deal last year and has previously been increased once, in November.
Provisional ratings have been assigned to a new residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction from Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac), on September 23. Westpac's Series 2013-2 WST Trust – a securitisation of prime residential mortgages – has a provisional volume of A$750 million (US$706.7 million) across three tranches.
This week saw deal activity slow to a virtual halt while financial markets awaited the tapering announcement from the US Federal Open Market Committee. Only two deals priced during the week, a new five-year from Rabobank Nederland Australia Branch and a debut bond issue from Cash Converters.
The lead manager of Cash Converters' (NR) debut bond issue says the pipeline for high-yield issuance is strong with another mandate already prepared. Cash Converters closed its five-year, fixed-rate bond offer on September 19 at final volume of A$60 million (US$57 million), or the top end of a A$10 million dollar indicative range.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) continued a run of substantial deal prints on September 16, issuing a total of US$3 billion in its first US dollar senior benchmark trade in 12 months. The deal, which the issuer says was supported by attractive pricing and investor demand, comes in the wake of its second jumbo residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction of the year on August 16.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) downgraded its ratings on the state of Western Australia (WA) and Western Australian Treasury Corporation (WATC), to AA+ from AAA, on September 18. S&P believes the state government has "limited political will" to fully implement its fiscal action plan which, in the context of a current debt burden "at the high end of the domestic peer group", has spurred a downgrade.
ANZ revealed on September 18 that it has become the first Australian bank to become a direct clearing member of – and clear its first trade through – LCH.Clearnet's SwapClear service. LCH.Clearnet made public plans to extend its OTC interest rate derivatives clearing service to Australia in December last year, saying at the time that four local banks had submitted letters of intent to use the service.
Korea South-East Power (KOSEP) issued its first-ever Kangaroo deal on September 12 in what was the year's third transaction into the Australian market from a Korean borrower, and the second from a Korean corporate. Joint lead managers on the deal say strong demand for seven-year tenor brought the borrower to the market.
On September 17, Rabobank Nederland Australia Branch (Rabobank Australia) (AA-/Aa2/AA) launched and priced a new five-year domestic transaction. The deal was upsized to A$500 million (US$466 million) from an indicative A$300 million and saw its margin tightened by 2 basis points from the launch target of 115 basis points area over three month bank bill swap (BBSW).