COUNTRY REPORT NEW ZEALANDrequirements that the issuer must have
a consolidated gearing ratio of not more
than 1.5 times and maintain a debt service
reserve account with funds equivalent to
six months of coupon payments.
› CAGAMAS MAKES A RETURN
CAGAMAS has printed M$825m of one-year
conventional and Islamic bonds at 3.4%,
the low end of initial price guidance of
3.4%–3.345%.
The issue comprised M$800m of
conventional and M$25m of Islamic notes
drawn from a M$40bn Islamic/conventional
MTN programme. The notes are rated AAA
by RAM and Marc.
AmInvestment Bank and CIMB Investment
Bank were joint lead managers for the
conventional tranche, while the Islamic
tranche was privately placed. The Malaysian
national mortgage agency will use the
proceeds to buy housing loans and Islamic
housing finance from banks.
Settlement was on August 9. The latest
deal brings Cagamas’ year-to-date issuance
to M$4.6bn.
SYNDICATED LOANS
› SAPURA-OMV JV RAISES US$200M CLUB
Oil and gas company SAPURA OMV UPSTREAM
has raised a US$200m 4.5-year term loan for
general corporate purposes.
Erste Group Bank, ING Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo,
Raiffeisen Bank International and UniCredit
were the lenders on the loan, which closed
as a club. UniCredit was the coordinator,
documentation and facility agent.
Sapura OMV Upstream is a strategic
partnership between Austrian industrial
company OMV and Malaysian oil and gas
company Sapura Energy.
On February 1, OMV Exploration &
Production, a wholly owned subsidiary of
OMV, paid US$540m for a 50% stake of the
issued share capital in the joint venture,
according to a company press release. Both
parties have also agreed to refinance the
existing inter-company debt of US$350m.
NEW ZEALAND
DEBT CAPITAL MARKETS
› ASB PLOTS EURO RETURNASB BANK (A1/AA–/AA–) has mandated
Barclays, UBS and its Australian parent CBA
to arange investor meetings in Europe
from September 2 for a potential euro-
denominated intermediate to long tenor
senior unsecured or covered bond offering.
ASB Bank previously visited the market
on March 6 with its first euro-denominated
bond in two years, a €500m (US$550m) no-
grow senior unsecured five-year print.
On June 18, Westpac New Zealand issued
the first Green bond by a Kiwi bank, either
onshore or offshore, with a €500m five-year
senior unsecured sale, priced at mid-swaps
plus 55bp.› ANZ HEADS TO EUROPEANZ NEW ZEALAND (A1/AA–/AA–) has mandated
BNP Paribas to arrange a European roadshow
beginning September 2 for a potential euro-
denominated intermediate to long tenor
senior unsecured bond offering.
Investor meetings are scheduled to
take place in Helsinki and Copenhagen
on September 2 and in Frankfurt,
the Netherlands, Paris and London,
respectively, over the following four days.› AUCKLAND REVISITS EUROPEAUCKLAND COUNCIL, rated Aa2/AA (Moody’s/
S&P), has mandated Citigroup, HSBC,
UBS and Westpac to organise a European
roadshow from September 10 for a
potential euro-denominated Reg S senior
secured intermediate to long maturity
benchmark bond issue.
Auckland Council previously held a non-
deal European roadshow in November last
year arranged by UBS and Westpac.
The biggest council in Australasia
in budget terms issued its first euro-denominated bond in January 2017 with
a no-grow €500m 10-year offering. This
was followed 10 month later by a capped
€500m seven-year print.› SPARK CROSSES THE TASMANSPARK FINANCE, the borrowing arm of Spark
New Zealand (formerly Telecom New
Zealand), rated A– (S&P), has mandated ANZ
and Westpac to arrange investor meetings in
Sydney and Melbourne on September 5 and
6 for a potential Australian dollar 10.5-year
bond offering.
Spark debuted in the Kangaroo market
in October 2017 with a A$150m (US$102m)
4.0% 10-year sale.› LGFA RETURNS WITH NZ$500M PRINTNEW ZEALAND LOCAL GOVERNMENT FUNDING AGENCY,
rated AA+/AA+ (S&P/Fitch), raised an
upsized NZ$500m (US$340m) from last
Wednesday’s short 10-year retail note offer,
above the indicated NZ$350m maximum
issue size.
The 1.5% April 29 2020 note priced at
98.864997347 to yield 1.687%, at the tight
end of the mid-swaps plus 48bp–52bp
guidance range.
BNZ was arranger and joint lead manager
with ANZ and Westpac for the offer.
LGFA debuted in the domestic bond
market in March with a non-sovereign
record NZ$1bn sale of 2.25% five-year (April
15 2024) notes.
The agency, which provides cheap debt
financing to participating local councils,
previously focused on small, regular tender
issues which are allocated on a sliding
scale based on the councils’ sizes and credit
ratings.
The New Zealand government owns 20%
of LGFA, while 30 regional and territorial
councils, including Auckland Council,
Christchurch City and Wellington City,
hold the remaining 80%.
LGFA has identical S&P and Fitch ratings
to New Zealand sovereign bonds, but
has no rating from Moody’s (which rates
the sovereign Aaa) and no government
guarantee.For information on how you can use favourable IFR Asia articles to reinforce your sales message.
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