News
South Australian Government Financing Authority has been working on plans to map its whole debt book – and thus pave the way for a fully sustainability-labelled issuance programme – for a matter of years. In the wake of its debut labelled transaction, Peter King, head of financial markets and client services at the state issuer, talks to KangaNews about the reception and the importance of a programme that is unique in Australia.
The nature and likelihood of pre-failure external support for banks has been brought back into focus following an update to the methodology Moody’s Ratings uses to assess the Australian banking sector. Some banks do not believe the new analysis gives sufficient weight to the likelihood of external support before the point of failure – even for entities not deemed systemically important.
HSBC Holdings’ tier-two Kangaroo – priced on 14 March – is the bank’s first subordinated transaction issued in Australian dollars and its first Kangaroo in any format since 2010. With book volume once again impressing – this time for a less-trafficked asset class – deal participants say the trade reflects ongoing strength in the Australian market, including for higher-yielding instruments.
KangaNews has announced its Market People of the Year 2023, at the KangaNews Awards Gala Dinner in Sydney on 19 March. These are the individuals who voters in the KangaNews Awards 2023 believe went above and beyond to contribute to the development of the Australian and New Zealand debt markets. There are no restrictions on the firms, role or seniority of winners – voters were simply asked to consider who contributed most to the market in either or both 2023 specifically or across the span of a career.
The first few months of 2024 demonstrated there is ample appetite for high-quality corporate credit across global markets – including in Australian dollars, where new issuance has reached a record level. Market sources say US private placement investors are as keen as ever to access Australian-origin issuers. The question is whether those issuers will be willing to look beyond the domestic value proposition.
There is more to Australian energy transition than delivering a big volume of renewables generation capacity. Industry leaders suggest the faster than anticipated exit of coal is changing the focus of those responsible for delivering the transition, to areas that require particular technological or investment attention.
MTF opened the New Zealand dollar securitisation market for 2024 in what the issuer describes as a positive environment for structured finance issuance. A year since its last term deal, the borrower says loan origination determined the timing of market return but also suggests issuing first is a good way to ensure maximum support in New Zealand.
Stockland’s latest transaction in the domestic market was anchored by a jumbo cornerstone bid that accounted for more than half the deal. Even so, more than 50 investors supported the issuer’s decision to offer a 10-year transaction – a duration not achieved by a property-sector issuer in Australian dollars since 2021.
Demand for Australian dollar securitisation in early 2024 allowed Athena to print its largest-ever volume in its return to residential mortgage-backed securities issuance. Athena says the origination environment is “still very competitive” but it remains comfortable in its own book growth: it expects to hit a target settlement volume of A$2.5 billion this year, facilitating this scale of capital markets issuance.
KangaNews data for calendar year 2023 confirm that a raft of sectors in the Australian dollar market experienced record new-issuance volume last year. The financial institution space in particular also delivered a notable uptick in issuance diversity, across unsecured and securitised deal formats. Meanwhile, issuance in New Zealand was consistent year-on-year.
Long-anticipated mandatory climate reporting for corporate Australia took a step closer to reality in January as the Australian government published its draft legislation for the forthcoming regime. Industry experts speak to KangaNews about what it means for businesses – and who will be ready for the task.
The positive tone in the Australian dollar market continued for Brisbane Airport’s latest transaction, having convinced the borrower to pick the domestic issuance option and advance its execution plans. The issuer was rewarded with a substantial oversubscription that allowed it to tighten the deal margin significantly.