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QT Mutual Bank (QT Mutual) (BBB+/A3) revealed on 22 May that it is planning to hold an investor update call on 24 May in relation to a Australian dollar-denominated, senior-unsecured transaction. National Australia Bank and Westpac Institutional Bank are arranging the call.
The Australian market moved a step closer to a formalised best practice for deal disclosure on 15 May when the Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA)’s credit product committee released a market notice recommending guidelines to be followed by market participants. Dealers tell KangaNews market practice has substantially coalesced around the guidelines though with no enforcement power it remains to be seen whether they will be followed universally.
On 22 May, Asian Development Bank (ADB) (AAA/Aaa/AAA) launched a new, seven-year Kauri deal. The forthcoming transaction is for minimum volume of NZ$100 million (US$69.3 million) and is expected to price the day after launch, according to lead managers ANZ and BNZ.
ING Bank Australia (ING Australia) revealed on 19 May that it has started taking indications of interest on the A$460 million (US$341.9 million) class A tranche of its new IDOL 2017-1 residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) deal. The tranche, which has a weighted average life of 2.84 years according to lead managers ING, Macquarie Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac Institutional Bank, is being marketed in the area of 105 basis points over one-month bank bill swap rate.
Caterpillar Financial Australia (Caterpillar) (A/A3) launched and priced a new three-year domestic deal on 19 May. Initial price talk on the minimum A$100 million (US$296.7 million) transaction was in the area of 80 basis points over semi-quarterly swap, according to the leads.
Australian public domestic and securitisation markets gathered pace during the third week of May, with New Zealand updates confined to the launch of a retail-targeted transaction for Goodman Property Trust. Elsewhere, Australia's big-four banks came out swinging against the recent levy on their liabilities proposed in the recent federal budget while at the same time S&P Global Ratings affirmed its triple-A rating with negative outlook on the Australian sovereign.
On 19 May, Rentenbank (AAA/Aaa/AAA) launched and priced a A$50 million (US$37.1 million) increase to its March 2027 Kangaroo bond. The transaction was marketed at 53 basis points over semi-quarterly swap or 67.75 basis points over Australian Commonwealth government bond.
On 19 May, Crown Group Finance (Crown) completed its previously announced tender offer to buy back its fixed-rate Australian dollar notes maturing in November 2019. The offer, which was originally launched on 1 May, has seen A$190.93 million (US$141.6 million) of domestic paper bought back by the issuer.