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Westpac New Zealand (Westpac) (AA-/Aa3/AA-) launched a new, five-year, senior-unsecured New Zealand domestic retail deal on 29 May. The forthcoming transaction is for up to NZ$100 million (US$70.4 million) the issuer reveals, with the potential to accept unlimited oversubscriptions.
On 29 May, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) launched its new Medallion Trust Series 2017-1 residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction. The seven-tranche funding and capital-relief deal has indicative volume of A$750 million (US$558.2 million) and is expected to price on or around 2 June, according to arranger and lead manager, CommBank.
Credit Union Australia (CUA) launched its new Series 2017-1 Harvey Trust residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction on 29 May. The six-tranche deal is for minimum A$500 million (US$372.1 million) volume and is expected to price on 2 June, according to the arranger, National Australia Bank, and additional joint lead managers, Deutsche Bank, Macquarie Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac Institutional Bank.
The credit ratings of 23 Australian financial institutions were downgraded one notch by S&P Global Ratings (S&P) during the last full week of May. One of the affected institutions was Liberty Financial (Liberty), but despite being downgraded during the bookbuild phase Liberty still printed an upsized and oversubscribed senior-unsecured transaction. Meanwhile, Westpac Banking Corporation priced 2017's first Australian covered-bond benchmark.
Liberty Financial (Liberty) printed an upsized and oversubscribed senior-unsecured transaction despite falling victim to an S&P Global Ratings (S&P) action that downgraded the issuer alongside 22 other Australian financial institutions. Liberty triggered a 50 basis points step-up built into its programme to retain investors, and says the higher margin on offer may have attracted additional bids.
Australia’s securitisation market continues to generate well bid and competitively priced transactions, with AMP Bank printing the market’s latest upsized and oversubscribed deal. The issuer highlights robust international demand throughout the capital structure as well as the pricing benefit achieved from the deal’s capital-relief structure.
For the first time in the current cycle, the New Zealand Debt Management Office (NZDMO) includes a government commitment to maintaining a minimum supply of New Zealand Government bonds (NZGBs) on issue in its latest funding update. The update, which was released on 25 May following the New Zealand budget, says the government intends to maintain minimum NZGB supply of “not less than 20 percent of GDP over time”.
Aurizon Network (Aurizon) (BBB+/ Baa1) revealed on 25 May that it is planning to meet Asian and Australian debt investors, having arranged a series of meetings to begin on 1 June. The meetings’ arrangers – ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Mizuho Securities and National Australia Bank – say a potential Australian dollar-denominated capital-markets transaction may follow.
On 25 May, Volkswagen Financial Services (VWFS) (BBB+/A2) and Volkswagen Financial Services Australia revealed plans to host a fixed-income investor call on 29 May. ANZ and RBC Capital Markets are arranging the call, after which a potential 3-5 year senior-unsecured Australian domestic transaction may follow.