News

ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) (AA-/Aa2/AA-) priced its domestic covered bond debut on March 16, introducing e a four-year fixed- and floating-rate line. The deal is the third domestic covered bond issue from an Australian big four bank, following January transactions totalling A$6.6 billion from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (AA-/Aa2/AA-) and Westpac Banking Corporation (AA-/Aa2/AA-).

Holcim Finance, a guaranteed subsidiary of Holcim (BBB/Baa2/BBB), priced a new three-year maturity Australian dollar transaction on March 16. The deal is the issuer's first foray into the Australian market since it placed a A$500 million three-year in August 2009.

African Development Bank (AfDB) (AAA/Aaa/AAA) priced a new 10-year Kangaroo deal on March 16 in the supranational's third-ever Kangaroo issue and its first since January 2011. AfDB also becomes the 10th supranational, sovereign and agency borrower to price an Australian dollar transaction so far in 2012.

ING Bank Sydney (ING Sydney), which debuted as a domestic market borrower with a four-year transaction that priced on March 15, plans to become a regular issuer of unsecured bonds in the Australian market. The local ING retail banking entity that has previously issued Australian dollar paper will continue to be the source of structured finance product in future, the issuer adds.

KfW Bankengruppe (KfW) (AAA/Aaa/AAA) priced its fifth Kangaroo transaction of the year on March 13, with the German agency completing the first increase to the February 2022 line it introduced last month. KfW is the only borrower to have visited the Kangaroo market more than once so far this year, with the agency having placed a total of A$1.85 billion (US$1.95 billion) in its four transactions.

Westpac New Zealand (Westpac NZ)'s NZ$750 million (US$607.2 million) return to domestic issuance assists the bank's strategy of retaining significant wholesale funding flexibility, the issuer says. According to KangaNews data the three-year fixed- and floating-rate issue was the largest ever one-time, single-maturity senior domestic issue by a New Zealand bank.

Australasian deal flow had a second consecutive active week with a number of transactions from both local and international issuers pricing. The biggest volume of issuance came from the Australian domestic banking sector, where a pair of big four senior unsecured issues accounted for nearly three-quarters of total primary market volume. The end of reporting season saw ratings activity slow, meanwhile.

L-Bank (AAA/Aaa), which has not issued a Kangaroo deal since February 2007, believes a return to the Australian dollar market may have drawn closer thanks to the upgrade of its parent state, Baden-Wuerttemberg, by Standard & Poor's (S&P). The March 6 upgrade by S&P takes both the German state and L-Bank to across-the-board triple-A status and, as a result, makes Australian repo eligibility a possibility.

Kommunalbanken Norway (KBN) (AAA/Aaa) priced its first Kangaroo of 2012 on March 8, with an increase to the issuer's April 2021 bond. The line in question was introduced by KBN in a A$250 million (US$264.7 million) transaction in April last year and has previously been tapped once, in November the same year, in what was the issuer's most recent previous Australian market deal.

Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi Sydney Branch (BoTM Sydney) (A+/Aa3/A) priced its debut domestic transaction on March 8, issuing a three-year floating rate note (FRN). The issuer is the fifth Asian bank to bring a deal to the Australian dollar market this year following Kangaroos from Industrial Bank of Korea and Korea Finance Corporation, and domestic issues by Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Sydney Branch and Bank of China Sydney Branch.

Export Development Canada (EDC) (AAA/Aaa) priced its first Kauri transaction since June 2008 on March 8 in the form of a NZ$200 million (US$163.9 million), five-year issue. EDC issued a total of NZ$675 million in three Kauri transactions between 2007 and 2008 but the last of that paper matured in June last year, according to KangaNews data.

A revival in supranational, sovereign and agency (SSA) Kangaroo issuance that saw A$3.4 billion (US$3.6 billion) of deal volume placed in February – and a further four transactions come to market in the first seven days of March – is not expected to be sustained at an equally rapid pace. But issuers and intermediaries agree Kangaroo conditions have improved markedly and are confident about prospects for the rest of 2012.