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.

Woolworths was greeted by an almost four-times oversubscription in its return to the Australian dollar market, demonstrating once again the reception afforded to high-quality domestic corporate names. The transaction also experienced a significant margin compression, leading deal sources to comment on the strength of the Woolworths credit and the good timing of its execution.

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.

KangaNews is proud to announce the winners of the institutional and deal categories in the KangaNews Awards 2021. At the end of another hectic year in the Australian and New Zealand capital markets, KangaNews received votes from hundreds of market participants keen to recognise the achievements of 2021's most outstanding performers.

Woolworths’ debut Australian dollar sustainability-linked bond proved popular with investors—the deal was more than four-times oversubscribed at its peak—which deal sources say further illustrates the market’s appetite for the asset class.

Woolworths printed its debut sustainability-linked bond on 9 September, also its first foray into the euro market. With a single target – greenhouse-gas emissions reduction – deal sources say execution was straightforward and demand abundant in Europe and beyond. Woolworths is now marketing an Australian dollar follow-up deal.