News
Aurizon Network came back to the domestic market for the first time since its 2013 debut during the second full week of June, while Volkswagen Financial Services Australia also returned to print a A$500 million (US$379.3 million) three-year deal. Meanwhile, in its annual post-budget funding update, Queensland Treasury Corporation forecast less issuance than previously anticipated in the near-term but revealed plans to ramp up supply in the out years.
University of Technology Sydney (UTS) (Aa1) revealed on 16 June that it has mandated ANZ and National Australia Bank to arrange a series of fixed-income investor meetings in Australia and Asia commencing on 22 June. An Australian dollar-denominated capital-markets deal may follow, the issuer adds.
The New Zealand Debt Management Office (NZDMO) says feedback from investors led it to initiate discussion within New Zealand government circles about committing to a minimum supply of sovereign debt on issue. New Zealand is approaching a forecast period of strong budget performance, and by maintaining bond supply the NZDMO hopes to support confidence in an actively traded market.
Aurizon Network (Aurizon)’s return to domestic issuance, nearly four years after its debut, is rated by buy- and sell-side deal sources as a relative-value success – allowing for a more than three-times oversubscription. The issuer says its confidence in the Australian dollar market was renewed by the pace of local deal flow during 2017.
While Australia’s corporate market appears to be more willing than ever to engage with longer-dated supply, a plurality of domestic fund managers say they expect to shorten portfolio duration. Investors tell KangaNews the portfolio impact of longer-dated corporate supply can be managed, however – allowing them to respond to issuers’ desire to add tenor to their debt profiles.
The annual post-budget funding update released by Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC) on 14 June projects a lower issuance task for 2017/18 than previously anticipated, but a ramping up of issuance in the back part of the current decade.
On 14 June, Summerset Group Holdings (Summerset) (NR) revealed that it has completed the bookbuild on its six-year, fixed-rate, retail bonds issue. Summerset has raised NZ$100 million (US$72.2 million) from the offer, including oversubscriptions of NZ$25 million, at an interest rate of 4.78 per cent and a margin of 195 basis points over mid-swap.