News
Investa Office Fund (IOF) (BBB+) launched and priced a green-bond transaction on 30 March. The issuer was seeking a minimum of A$100 million (US$76.7 million) of seven-year bonds at an indicative margin of 175 basis points over semi-quarterly swap. The transaction is the first true-corporate green-bond issuance in the Australian domestic market, according to KangaNews data.
On 30 March, RedZed Lending Solutions (RedZed) printed its first nonconforming residential mortgage-backed securities issue of 2017. Indicative volume on RedZed Trust Series 2017-1 was A$250-300 million (US$190.8-229.0 million).
Latitude Australia Credit Card Loan Note Trust priced on 31 March. The deal is a master-trust securitisation originated by Latitude Finance Australia (Latitude) via Latitude Card Trust, which disclosed initial volume and price guidance on 22 March and launched on 29 March.
ME Bank (BBB+/A3) priced a new, three-year Australian dollar senior floating-rate (FRN) transaction on 29 March. Price guidance was 120-125 basis points over three-month bank bill swap rate.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) (AA-/Aa2/AA-) printed A$650 million in a dual-tranche climate bond on 28 March. The transaction was upsized from indicative A$300 million (US$228.5 million) volume via a fixed- and a floating-rate tranche. The five-year deal had printed at the tight end of 92-95 basis points over swap and bank bills pricing guidance.
Heritage Bank (A3/BBB+) revealed on 27 March that it plans to meet investors in Melbourne and Sydney during the week of 3 April. The meetings’ arrangers, ANZ and National Australia Bank, say that a senior-unsecured capital-markets transaction may follow, subject to market conditions and investor feedback.
Villa World (NR) revealed on 27 March that is has closed the bookbuild early on its offer of unsecured and unsubordinated simple corporate bonds. The bookbuild was scheduled to close on 29 March and the issuer revealed in an Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) announcement that it completed the bookbuild on March 24. The final margin, originally expected to be in the range of 4.75-5.00 per cent, was also revealed to be 4.75 per cent.
The Australian securitisation market moved a step closer to master-trust issuance during the third week of March as price guidance was revealed on the first notes to be issued by Latitude Australia Credit Card Loan Note Trust. Elsewhere, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group issued A$1 billion (US$761 million) of SEC-registered, total loss absorbing capacity-eligible notes and Pepper Australia upsized its latest residential mortgage-backed securities deal to A$900 million.
WSO Finance (WSO) (A3/A-), the financing entity of the Westlink Motorway Group and 50 per cent subsidiary of Transurban, priced a dual-tranche deal on 24 March, adding a 10.5-year tranche earlier in the day to the 10-year tranches launched a day earlier. The tranches had price thoughts of 177 basis points and 180 basis points over semi-quarterly swap respectively