News
Two new transactions and three increases, all from the Australian market, comprised the deal flow for the last full week of July. Port of Brisbane brought a debut Australian dollar MTN issue with a seven-year maturity, while the South Australian Government Financing Authority added A$750 million to the August 6 2019 line by syndication. The New Zealand market saw no new deals.
On July 10, Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) became the first of Australia's big four banks to launch a tier-two capital deal under new Basel III rules. A week later the margin was set at 230 basis points over bank bill swap rate (BBSW) and the offer size increased to A$850 million (US$788.05 million).
A strong investor bid for seven-year paper helped Port of Brisbane (BBB) price its first-ever bond in the Australian domestic market on July 22. The deal comes hard on the heels of Perth Airport (BBB/Baa2), which brought its inaugural unwrapped domestic bond on July 16 – also a seven-year deal.
On July 23, the South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA) (AA/Aa1) priced a tap to its A$1.035 billion (US$953.6 million) 2019 domestic line via syndication.
On July 22, QPH Finance (BBB), the financing entity for the group which manages and develops the Port of Brisbane, priced a new seven-year deal in the Australian market. The transaction was upsized from a minimum volume of A$150 million.
Provisional ratings have been assigned to Bank of Queensland (BOQs) first Australian dollar residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issue of 2013.