A few months into 2024, there can be no doubt that the Australian dollar market is demonstrating an all-time best level of demand for corporate transactions, including investor diversity and appetite for extended tenor. Discussion at the KangaNews Debt Capital Market Summit, which took place in Sydney on 18 March, turned to the prospects for this level of support to remain available consistently in future.

In pursuit of maintaining its domestic bond curve, Aurizon Network returned to the Australian dollar market for the first time in four years. The issuer reveals that the deal enjoyed abundant demand – which it ascribes to emerging understanding of nuance in sustainability as well as the ongoing positive backdrop for credit supply.

The KangaNews-Westpac Institutional Bank Corporate Debt Summit 2023 took place in Sydney in mid-October. A record number of delegates gathered to discuss the present and future of the Australian corporate environment, from the economic outlook and business conditions to the forthcoming impact of generative AI. In the mix was a steady but unspectacular corporate bond issuance environment that belies fundamental growth in domestic credit.

Australian and New Zealand corporate borrowers were somewhat less active in the US private placement market in 2022 than they have been historically. But participants at a roundtable hosted by KangaNews and MUFG Securities in Miami in January note that this was in line with dramatically reduced corporate issuance across the board, and suggest US private placements will be a favoured option as soon as supply picks up.

The Westpac-KangaNews Corporate Debt Summit returned to Sydney as an in-person event on 20 October, at a fascinating juncture for the sector. After an unprecedented change of direction for monetary policy, painful market conditions for credit investors and a new-issuance slump, it would be easy to imagine an atmosphere of gloom. However, while acknowledging significant challenges in the near term, many speakers at the event suggested a difficult 2022 could be preparing the ground for a more healthy local credit market in the years to come.

China’s ban on Australian coal has been one of the largest shocks to the industry in recent months. Nonetheless, Aurizon Operations received strong investor support for its transaction – albeit at a significantly wider price point to its triple-B rated peers.