News

Within the past month, five short- to medium-dated floating rate note (FRN) deals have been placed by Australian semi-government and agency issuers for a total volume of A$1.3 billion (US$1.4 billion). With two of those deals pricing this week, market participants report ongoing appetite from a consistent group of investors. More such deals are expected to emerge and the demand for shorter-dated FRN paper could also expand into the Kangaroo market.

Domestic primary deal flow was again restricted to the high-grade sector this week, as three new agency deals were introduced and two Kangaroo taps priced. Elsewhere, the second commercial mortgage-backed securities deal in two weeks was launched. The only activity in New Zealand was a small local council transaction.

Preliminary ratings have been assigned to a new commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) deal to be issued by Charter Hall Retail Finance (Charter Hall), formerly known as Macquarie CountryWide Finance (Macquarie). The indicatively-sized A$250 million (US$267 million) transaction is just the second securitisation issue since late July, with IMB also executing a CMBS trade on August 23 at a size of A$202.6 million.

Ongoing slow issuance volumes meant little change in KangaNews's intermediary league tables in the week ending August 26, although its role as sole lead manager on the week's largest Kangaroo transaction did enable Westpac Institutional Bank (Westpac) to leap three places to third in the Kangaroo league table. The only other Kangaroo deal was led by UBS Investment Bank, with that intermediary up two spots to fourth in a congested league table.