News
On 25 November, Bank Australia (BBB/Baa1) began taking indications of interest for its new three-year, Australian dollar denominated, floating-rate note sustainability bond. The deal is being marketed at 90-93 basis points area over three-month bank bills. Launch is expected in the near future, according to ANZ and National Australia Bank.
On 25 November, NAOS Small Cap Opportunities (NAOS SCO) launched a A$30 million (US$20.4 million), five-year deal. The forthcoming deal, which is expected to price on or before 28 November, is being marketed with a fixed rate of 495 basis points area. Acacia Partners is leading.
Alessandro Pagani, head of the mortgage and structured finance team at Loomis Sayles in Boston, visited Australia in November to discuss the global securitisation market with local investors and to get an update on Australian structured finance. KangaNews sat down with Pagani to hear about the securitisation asset class in a challenging investment environment, the appeal of Australian assets and the challenges of developing a broader collateral base for this market.
The launch of Commonwealth Bank of Australia's inaugural A$1.5 billion (US$1 billion) Australian Overnight Index Average (AONIA)-linked, residential mortgage-backed securities transaction highlighted the third full week of November, while deals from David Jones Finance, Qantas Airways and NextEra Energy Capital Holdings lit up the corporate space.
Greater execution certainty for unrated corporate issuers in Australia encouraged South Africa’s Woolworths Holdings to explore public market issuance for its Australian subsidiaries, David Jones Finance (David Jones) and Country Road. The parent company was eager to diversify the debt funding of its Australian business into capital markets, in line with group funding strategy.
On 22 November, Synlait Milik (Synlait) revealed plans for a five-year, subordinated, retail bond deal for NZ$150-200 million (US$96-128 million). Full details for the transaction are expected in late November or early December. ANZ and Jarden Securities are arrangers for the deal and are joined as lead managers by Deutsche Craigs and Forsyth Barr.
ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) intends to maintain its commitment to green, social and sustainability (GSS) bond issuance, having printed its first such deal in tier-two format in the euro market. The issuer says use-of-proceeds deals are as applicable to capital issuance as senior debt and can even help diversify the investor base as the bank fulfils an increased tier-two requirement.