Australian dollar corporate supply in 2023 was hampered by uncertainty amid a higher interest-rate environment and a lack of immediate funding need. This caused some issuers to hold off entirely, while others accessed more competitive offshore capital markets. But by year-end, early signs pointed to a more active 2024.

Port of Brisbane and Transurban Queensland’s return to domestic issuance was greeted with solid book volumes and significant margin progression. Deal sources say the much-heralded late-year uptick in Australian dollar corporate deal flow could still eventuate though a changing market backdrop and the limited execution window could make corporate supply fall short of expectations once again.

Tight new-issue concessions, ample liquidity, the availability of tenor and favourable cross-currency economics are among the drivers sending a host of Australian corporate names on a funding expedition to Europe in recent weeks, deal sources say. Three such deals priced and another two circling since mid-April have been the subject of comment in the European market and demonstrate the clear advantage euro issuance offers in the H1 corporate funding window.

In late September, ANZ, KangaNews Sustainable Finance and Pollination Group brought together prominent sustainability investors and corporate issuers to discuss emerging challenges in sustainable finance and how to solve them. Reporting standards, greenwashing risk, natural capital and biodiversity, and the danger of being overwhelmed as more areas are added to the sustainability mix top the list of challenging issues.

The KangaNews-Westpac Corporate Debt Summit debuted in 2011, with a relatively small audience and a market that could not yet take consistent supply of corporate bonds for granted. In the decade since, the event and the market have grown and diversified. By 2019 – the last year before COVID-19 put the in-person event on hiatus – registrations had more than trebled, to nearly 600, and the event’s agenda covered not just corporate debt but a raft of issues relevant to the economic and business environment.

The US private placement market is a well-trodden stomping ground for many Australian- and New Zealand-based borrowers, but issuance from the region has been lacking since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, market users say US pricing is swinging round for offshore corporates and expect more issuance in H2 2021, pointing to a jumbo new deal from an Australian issuer as a sign of the market’s ongoing value.