News
Following a round of investor meetings in late October, Australian National University (ANU) (AA+) priced a new domestic bond transaction on November 11. The issuer was seeking an indicative A$100 million (US$70.2 million) in a 10-year, fixed-rate deal which carried an indicative margin of around 105 basis points over semi-quarterly swap.
AAI (A+/A1/A+), Suncorp Group's insurance subsidiary, has priced a new 25-year non-call five, tier-two transaction. The November 10 launch followed a series of fixed-income investor meetings in Australia and Asia which took place during the week of October 26.
On November 11, South Australian Government Financing Authority (SAFA) (AA/Aa1) priced a syndicated increase of its April 2025 benchmark bond. The tap reached its capped issue volume of A$750 million (US$529.6 million) and priced at 50.5 basis poitns over EFP, within its indicative range of 50-52 basis points over EFP.
Preliminary ratings have been assigned to a new prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction based on loans originated by Firstmac. The forthcoming deal, Firstmac Mortgage Funding Trust No.4 Series 2-2015, has provisional volume of A$500 million (US$352.4 million) across its eight tranches, according to a November 9 report from Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P).
On November 6, ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) (AA-/Aa2/AA-) priced a new Australian dollar tier-two issue. According to KangaNews data, the self-led deal is the second major-bank tier-two transaction in Australia this year, after National Australia Bank (NAB) printed A$1.1 billion (US$793.1 million) of 10-year non-call five bonds at 185 basis points over bank bill swap rate (BBSW) in March.
After just five auctions, the Australian Office of Financial Management has put its residential mortgage-backed securities divestment programme on hold. Recent deal flow continued at a slow pace, although corporate issuance activity has resumed in the Australian market.
Wayne Byres, chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), used a November 5 speech to highlight the process of ensuring Australian banks are "unquestionably strong" as a key focus for 2016. However, Byres also gave a nod to recent capital-raising efforts when acknowledging local banks' solid starting place for next year's dialogue.
On November 5, Stockland Trust Management (Stockland) (A-) revealed it has mandated ANZ and Commonwealth Bank "to engage with Australian dollar debt investors". A capital markets transaction may follow, the issuer says.
After selling zero volume in its latest auction of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), the Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) revealed on November 5 that the auctions scheduled for November and December 2015 would not proceed and that no auction will be held in January next year.