Online articles

• Ausgrid USPP highlights capacity growth including currency diversification options

  Ausgrid’s return to the US private placement market for a second jumbo transaction indicates the inrease in optionality for issuers in this sector, deal sources say. The multitranche deal is notable for the inclusion of Canadian dollar and sterling notes – from which the issuer derived a pricing benefit – which further highlight the scale of potential demand for Australian corporate credit.

• Australian universities’ sustainability strides continue

  A brace of transactions by Australian university borrowers have kept the higher-education sector at the forefront of local sustainable debt financing. In particular, Macquarie University’s commitment to transparency in its sustainability-linked loan process demonstrates what deal sources insist is market-leading best practice for the asset class.

• BOJ’s warning shot reverberates

  The Bank of Japan’s decision to ease its longstanding yield curve control policy, allowing the 10-year Japanese government bond yield to rise as high as 1 per cent, reverberated through global bond markets. While there is no expectation of an immediate, wide-scale change in Japanese investor behaviour, Australian fixed income sectors with a longstanding reliance on the Japanese bid have reasons to watch the policy...

• Demand and ESG trends hold firm in New Zealand

  The second survey of New Zealand institutional fixed income investors, conducted by BNZ and KangaNews in June and July, highlights some longstanding challenges in the local market – and some new ones. Investors continue to clamour for more issuance of high-quality credit, while progress on sustainable finance appears to be falling behind the hoped-for pace of evolution.

• Elevator going down: office landlords’ tougher funding task

  Alarming headlines about office vacancy rates are the most visible sign of a downturn in the commercial property space. While cyclical and structural factors are weighing on the sector, though, investors and rating agencies continue to back the sound fundamentals of its Australian issuers.

• Regional banks chart a course through choppy waters

  With weakness in the US regional bank sector prominent in debt investors’ thinking and consolidation never far from the front pages, Australia’s nonmajor banks might have expected a challenging funding environment in 2023. Instead, solid balance sheets and the generally positive environment for financial credit have helped issuance maintain a steady path.

• Saving private credit

  Private credit was very much in vogue in the last phase of the rates cycle as ultra-low yield led investors into this emerging sector in search of positive income returns. Higher rates have changed the equation, but sector participants say revised approaches to assessing private credit opportunities do not diminish its appeal – especially while borrowers continue to seek this type of funding.

• System shock, system growth

  While there is no clear consensus on the long-term outcome of the recent Bank of Japan announcement on yield curve control, some market sources believe it could have a profound impact on the demand for international securities that have benefited from a substantial Japanese bid. If this view is correct, it will lead to a number of questions about the size and function of the Australian dollar market.

• The heart of the deal

  One of the main factors put forward to explain why Australian true corporate issuance continues to underperform in an otherwise largely positive local credit market is suboptimal execution practice. KangaNews goes inside the deal process with parties on all sides of transactions to understand why many market users believe execution is letting the local corporate market down.

• Time for a fixed income new paradigm?

  Some of the most important and fundamental driving forces in the fixed-income market are changing as the world moves from ever-increasing liquidity to a more restrictive outlook and policy approach. Participants at the annual ANZ-KangaNews fixed income trading and liquidity roundtable discuss global trends, local relative value, the return of the term premium and the potential shift of market norms that have...