News
Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC) (AA+/Aa1) priced an increase to its July 2025 fixed-rate domestic benchmark bond on March 10. According to KangaNews data, the deal is the borrower's second syndicated tap of the line which was introduced in April 2014 for volume of A$1 billion (US$768.4 million) and pricing of 56 basis points over Australian government bond (ACGB). The line was later increased by a further A$1 billion via syndication in November. That deal had pricing of 43.75 basis points over ACGB.
Macquarie Bank (Macquarie) priced its first non-mortgage asset-backed securities (ABS) transaction of 2015 following expected ratings assigned to the new deal on March 3. SMART ABS Series 2015-1US Trust has a eight-tranche structure including both US and Australian dollar-denominated senior notes, and total equivalent volume of A$754.735 million (US$573.6 million).
Tier-two capital funding action was prevalent in the week under review as the major banks continue to break out into previously uncharted territory. Elsewhere, deal flow continued at a robust pace on both sides of the Tasman Sea. *Registrations are still open for the 2015 KangaNews DCM Summit on March 16 & 17 in Sydney and the KangaNews NZ Capital Markets Forum 2015 on March 19 in Wellington. For an up-to-date agenda and instructions on how to register for the Sydney conference click here, and for the Wellington conference click here.
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Sydney Branch (BoTM Sydney) (A+/A1) priced a new Australian dollar deal on March 6. The deal is BoTM Sydney's third senior-unsecured transaction in the domestic market in 12 months.
The volume outcome for the third Australian major-bank issuer to access the renminbi market for tier-two funding appears to contradict any suggestion that capacity in this format could be sufficient to support issuance from all four banks – at least in close succession. Deal sizes have progressively fallen to a level that the market's latest issuer suggests could be the market norm.
On March 6, ANZ New Zealand (ANZ NZ) announced it had doubled the size of its tier-one capital notes issue – the first tier-one issuance in New Zealand since 2009 and the issuer's first ever – and set the margin at the tight end of the proposed range.
A sixth avenue for Basel III-compliant tier-two funding was opened up to Australia's major bank issuers on March 5. Positive pricing outcomes from recent transactions have come hand-in-hand with question marks over longer-term capacity and consistency, but the issuer of the latest transaction says the opportunity it exploited is not only cost efficient but reliable to boot.