News
On 21 January, Newcastle Permanent Building Society (NPBS) (BBB/A3) launched a new five-year, Australian dollar denominated, benchmark transaction. Indicative price guidance for the forthcoming deal, which is expected to price on the day of launch, is 115 basis points area over three-month bank bills.
On 21 January, Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) (AA-/A1/AA-) launched a new, indicative NZ$100 million (US$66.1 million), five-year, senior-unsecured deal with indicative price guidance of 80-85 basis points over mid swap. Pricing for the self-led transaction is expected on 24 January.
Issuance trends from 2019 across the Australian high-grade, financial institution and corporate sectors, as well as in the New Zealand market. Featuring transaction insights and issuer perspectives from the KangaNews archive.
KangaNews launches its GSS bond league tables for Australia and New Zealand showing the top bookrunners in each jurisdiction since the markets started, and for calendar year 2019. A full list of GSS deals for Australia and New Zealand is included.
On 20 January, Pepper Group (Pepper) launched its new auto and equipment asset-backed securities (ABS) transaction, Pepper SPARKZ Trust 2. Total capped volume for the deal is A$616.7 million (US$424.4 million), with pricing expected on 23 January. Bank of America, MUFG Securities, National Australia Bank, RBC Capital Markets, Societe Generale and Westpac Institutional Bank are joint lead managers.
The evolution of debt investors’ incorporation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors is making rating agencies more relevant to the sector. In particular, the move towards incorporating ESG into entity-level credit analysis is bringing the sustainable market into the rating agencies’ sweet spot. Challenges in determining materiality and timeframes for risk remain.
Jacki Johnson, adviser to IAG on climate change and sustainability and Simon O'Connor, chief executive at Responsible Investment Association of Australasia Ð co-chairs of the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative (ASFI) Ð provide an update on the programme's first progress report, released in November 2019.
European Investment Bank (EIB) (AAA/Aaa/AAA) launched a minimum A$100 million (US$68.8 million) increase to its February 2028 Kangaroo climate-awareness bond (CAB), on 20 January. Indicative price guidance for the forthcoming transaction is 42 basis points area over semi-quarterly swap, equivalent to 43 basis points area over Australian Commonwealth government bond. Pricing is expected on the day after launch, according to Deutsche Bank.
On 20 January, Newcastle Permanent Building Society (NPBS) (BBB/A3) revealed plans for a new five-year, Australian dollar denominated, floating-rate note, benchmark transaction. The deal is expected to launch in the near future, according to joint lead managers ANZ and National Australia Bank.
New Zealand's green, social and sustainability (GSS) bond market grew substantially in 2019 but is still concentrated around a fw repeat issuers. At the KangaNews-Westpac New Zealand Sustainable Finance Summit in Auckland in November 2019, market participants discussed developments in the GSS market and the wider application of sustainability.
On 20 January, Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) launched a new self-led residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction, WST 2020-1. Indicative total volume is A$1 billion (US$687.4 million), with pricing expected on or before 24 January.
In the second full week of January, Australian dollar deal activity was highlighted by National Australia Bank's A$2.25 billion (US$1.6 billion) five-year, dual-tranche, senior-unsecured transaction. Meanwhile, Asian Development Bank kickstarted the Kauri market for the year with a NZ$300 million (US$199.2 million) five-year deal.