News
Suncorp-Metway priced a A$500 million (US$369 million) five-year covered bond - it's first since October 2014 - during the second week of June. Across the Tasman Sea, World Bank printed the Kauri market's largest-ever deal as it tapped its 2021 maturity notes by NZ$875 million (US$616.6 million).
The Local Government Funding Vehicle (LGFV) (Aa2) priced a new, 10-year Australian dollar transaction on June 17, with pricing at 145 basis points over semi-quarterly swap. This is the tight end of the initial 145-150 basis points over semi-quarterly swap guidance range that was provided to the market ahead of pricing on June 10.
A research report published by National Australia Bank (NAB)'s global markets credit research team on June 16 estimates that, in aggregate, the big-four Australian banks may need to raise more than A$120 billion (US$88.7 billion) of total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) by the regime's implementation date. However, even factoring in two key expected forthcoming regulatory changes to the estimate, the report suggests that the task – while substantial – should be manageable for the majors.
Barclays Bank Australia Branch (Barclays Australia) disclosed on June 16 that it has repurchased more than A$497 million (US$367.4 million) of a possible A$1.3 billion in face value of its April 2019 notes. The buyback offer was aimed at holders of A$600 million of fixed-rate and A$700 million of floating-rate notes, which were originally issued in March 2014 and, according to KangaNews data, were set to mature in April 2019. They originally priced at 105 basis points over swap.
In the wake of National Australia Bank (NAB)'s largest residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction since 2006, the issuer tells KangaNews that participation from new offshore accounts demonstrates ongoing confidence in the Australian housing market, which in turn helped to drive the deal's record volume.
KangaNews is pleased to present the results of its 2016 Fixed-Income Research Poll. This is the only independent, specialist poll of fixed-income investors' views on relevant research in the Australian market. This year marks the sixth consecutive year the poll has been running, and the 2016 response – more than 70 legitimate votes were received from qualifying institutional investors – was a record.
Infratil (NR) disclosed pricing on its new New Zealand domestic retail transaction to the NZX on June 16. The two tranches of unsecured fixed-rate notes mature on June 15 2021 and June 15 2024. The trasaction is targeted at New Zealand retail investors.
Optus Finance (Optus) announced on June 15 that it plans to hold a series of fixed- income investor meetings in Melbourne and Sydney during the week of June 27. According to KangaNews data, Optus was last in the domestic market in June last year when it raised A$250 million (US$184.1 million) of June 2022 maturity bonds.