News

The third Australian residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) transaction of 2010 priced on February 25, with Credit Union Australia (CUA) bringing A$650 million (US$579.93 million) to market in the Series 2010-1 Harvey Trust (Harvey 2010-1) transaction. Harvey 2010-1 is the issuer's first securitised transaction since March last year.

The A$500 million new September 2011 issue completed by Treasury Corporation of Victoria (TCV) (AAA/Aaa) on February 24 was a one-off, private market trade and not the inauguration of a new benchmark, the issuer says. The deal's lead managers, ANZ and UBS Investment Bank, say it was based on reverse inquiry while TCV had a specific client position it wished to cover.

New South Wales Treasury Corporation (TCorp) (AAA/Aaa) is taking an aggressive approach to moving away from federal government guaranteed funding, with the issuer announcing on February 24 that it will introduce three new unguaranteed benchmark lines by the end of March. The first of these new lines, the August 2013, will be brought to market via a A$750 million (US$669.98 million) tender on February 25.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) (AAA/Aaa/AAA) launched the third Kangaroo transaction in three days on February 24, announcing that it will price a new March 2020 line in the near future. The deal will be the issuer's second foray into the Kangaroo market this year, following the inauguration of its January 2015 line in a A$1 billion (US$891.8 million) transaction on January 12.

Despite the success of its second new unguaranteed benchmark deal of 2010 – in which the issuer priced A$2.5 billion of February 2020 bonds – Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC) (AA+/Aa1) is still not ruling out future issuance under government guarantee before the scheme's year-end expiry. The new transaction priced at 16 basis points over swap on February 23.

In its first deal in the Kangaroo market since May 2008, on February 23 European rolling stock agency EUROFIMA (AAA/Aaa) priced a A$200 million (US$179.76 million) increase to its January 2014 line, which now has A$1.2 billion on issue. The issuer confirms that the deal was capped in size as it is a back-to-back funder.

The first Kangaroo transaction for nearly a fortnight priced on February 22 as KfW Bankengruppe (KfW) (AAA/Aaa/AAA) sold a A$250 million (US$225.2 million) increase to its May 2015 line, bringing the bond's total outstanding to A$1.25 billion. The deal priced at 82 basis points over the benchmark April 2015 Australian government bond, which ratesheet data indicates equates to around 40 basis points over swap.

Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC) (AA+/Aa1) has announced the launch of its second new unguaranteed domestic benchmark line within a day, saying on February 22 that it anticipates pricing of the February 2020 maturity on February 23. The issuer's most recent new line introduction came on January 21 when it placed A$4 billion (US$3.6 billion) of November 2014 paper in another unguaranteed deal.

In what will be its first deal in the Kangaroo market since May 2008, on February 22 European rolling stock agency EUROFIMA (AAA/Aaa) launched an increase to its A$1 billion (US$899.7 million) January 2014 line. The transaction will also mark a return to the Kangaroo market for National Australia Bank as a lead manager, with the firm taking top line position – alongside RBC Capital Markets – for the first time in over two years.

The government guaranteed March 2015 bond priced by ING Bank Australia (ING Australia) (A+) on February 18 was capped at A$2 billion (US$1.79 billion) with significant oversubscriptions on the back of heavy demand for the soon-to-disappear guaranteed asset class. The deal was for A$1 billion each of fixed and floating rate paper with pricing of 33 basis points over swap and bank bill swap rate respectively.

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is active in moves to develop Australia's listed bond market for both sovereign and corporate issuers according to the exchange's managing director and chief executive, Robert Elstone. It is also hopeful that the federal government will eventually decide to facilitate retail access to sovereign debt and that this will, in turn, help pave the way for corporate issuance.

ING Bank Australia (ING Australia) (AA-) will add at least one new point to its government guaranteed curve before the withdrawal of the guarantee on March 31. On February 18 the bank launched a new five-year maturity, government-backed transaction with pricing to follow "in the near future subject to market conditions" according to a four name lead manager group.