Aurizon
Summing up the corporate equation
The KangaNews Corporate Debt Summit 2024 took place on 17 October, a matter of weeks after the Australian dollar corporate bond market passed its record for full-year issuance volume (see p21). Speakers discussed the prospects for a newly vibrant local debt funding option, and an economic and business environment where cautious optimism is the mood of the day.
Confidence grows on baseline reliability of Australian corporate market
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.
Resilience to the fore in corporate Australia – in funding as in business
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.
US private placement reliability keeps it on the Australasian agenda
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.
Corporate debt: another year of living dangerously
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.
Eye of the storm
When Australia went into lockdown, transport and shipping infrastructure saw an unprecedented business shock. Airport and toll-road passenger numbers collapsed while even freight flows dropped as the global economy ground to a halt. In October, KangaNews and Westpac Institutional Bank gathered key players in the Australian sector to discuss business impact, balance-sheet resilience and the swift rebound of debt capital markets including the domestic option.
