News
on September 12, Firstmac priced Firstmac Mortgage Funding Trust No.4 Series 2-2014 with an upsized volume of A$700 million (US$630.3 million) across seven tranches.
On September 11, African Development Bank (AfDB) (AAA/Aaa/AAA) mandated a tap to its January 2025 Kangaroo bond. The transaction is the third tap to the line which was originally launched in July at a volume of A$125 million (US$114.8 million) and pricing of 58.75 basis points over Australian government bond (ACGB).
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) (AA-/Aa3/AA) priced a new five-year Kangaroo covered bond on September 12 – the bank's second-ever covered bond in the Australian domestic market. The issuer explored fixed- and floating rate options but elected only to issue a floating-rate note (FRN).
In the deal-heavy second week of September, Glencore Australia Holdings printed a A$500 million (US$453.4 million) five-year line, the largest corporate bond in the Australian domestic market since November. Elsewhere, Origin Energy returned to hybrid issuance and the race for the top of the KangaNews domestic league table heated up.
Glencore Australia Holdings (Glencore) (Baa2/BBB) priced its debut domestic deal in the Australian market on September 11. The five-year benchmark transaction had indicative price guidance of 140 basis points area over swap.
An innovative use of legal documentation enabled Origin Energy (Origin) to successfully price its second-ever euro-denominated hybrid security despite gapping secondary-market prices in its outstanding issue. The pricing and volume outcome in the new transaction emphasises the need for conscientious investor relations work, the issuer says.
The A$950 million (US$863.4 million) new asset-backed securities (ABS) transaction sponsored by Bank of Queensland (BOQ) and backed by a pool of auto loans, was priced on September 11.
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Sydney Branch (BoTM Sydney) (A+/Aa3) priced a new transaction in the Australian market on September 11. The forthcoming deal will be BoTM Sydney's second senior-unsecured four-year line in the domestic market in 2014.
On September 11, Metropolitan Life Global Funding I (MetLife) (AA-/Aa3/AA-) priced a new seven-year senior-unsecured benchmark transaction in the Kangaroo market. The newly priced deal is only the second at such extended tenor from an issuer in the financial institution (FI) sector since before the financial crisis.
Province of Québec (Québec) (A+/Aa2/AA-) priced a tap to its 2025 Kangaroo bond on September 11. According to KangaNews data, this is the first tap to this line which was originally launched at A$100 million (US$92.1 million) on August 28.
After four consecutive rate hikes the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) left the official cash rate (OCR) on hold at 3.5 per cent at its September meeting, which was held shortly in advance of New Zealand's general election. Analysts were universally expecting the pause and the consensus is now that will be on hold until at least March.
On September 10, Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC) (AA+/Aa1) launched and priced a new November 2018 maturity benchmark floating-rate note (FRN) issue after mandating the transaction a day earlier. QTC is the second semi-government issuer to access the four-year part of the curve in FRN format since the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority confirmed plans to ease the liquidity coverage ratio regime on September 4.