IFR Asia – May 05, 2018

› ANZ PRINTS JUMBO DUAL-TRANCHE

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP,

rated Aa3/AA–/AA–, on Wednesday priced
A$2.55bn dual-tranche senior unsecured
bonds.
A A$2bn five-year floating-rate tranche
priced at par with a coupon of 90bp
over three-month BBSW. A A$550m five-
year fixed-rate tranche priced at 99.829
with a coupon of 3.35% to yield 3.3875%,
equivalent to semi-quarterly asset swaps
plus 90bp.
Initial guidance was 93bp over the fixed
and floating benchmarks.
ANZ was sole lead manager for the deal,
which settles on May 9.

› LIBERTY FINANCIAL TAPS

LIBERTY FINANCIAL, rated BBB– by S&P, on
Monday priced a A$75m increase to its
5.1% April 2021 MTN, bringing the total
outstanding to
A$225m.
The tap priced at 99.56 to yield 5.2625%,
equivalent to semi-quarterly asset swaps
plus 300bp, in line with guidance.
NAB and Westpac were joint lead
managers for the trade, which settled on
May 4.

› RACQ BANK PRINTS FLOATER

MEMBERS BANKING GROUP, operating as RACQ

Bank and rated Baa1/BBB+ (Moody’s/S&P),

on Thursday priced a A$55m two-year

floating-rate note at three-month BBSW

plus 110bp, in line with guidance.

The offering was increased from a

minimum size of A$40m.

ANZ and NAB were joint lead managers

for the deal, which settles on May 11.

› VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDS MEETINGS

Airline VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS, rated B2/

B+ (Moody’s/S&P), mandated ANZ, HSBC

and UBS to arrange investor meetings

in Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney and

Melbourne, which began on May 3.

An Australian dollar debt capital markets

transaction is expected to follow, subject to

market conditions.

STRUCTURED FINANCE

› FLEXIGROUP PRINTS TIGHT ABS

Flexigroup has priced a A$300m (US$228m)

securitisation, FLEXI ABS TRUST 2018-1, backed by

fully amortising Australian dollar consumer

receivables originated and serviced by

Certegy Ezi-Pay.

A A$100m Class A tranche, rated P-1/

F1+ (Moody’s/Fitch), priced at three-

month BBSW plus 65bp, from 65bp–70bp

guidance.

A A$66.5m Class A2 tranche and A$66m

Class A2-G tranche, both rated Aaa/AAA,

priced at BBSW plus 107bp, from 115bp

area initial guidance.

A A$15.3m Class B-G tranche (Aa2/

AA) priced at 165bp from 180bp area; a

TransGrid powers up A$4bn refinancing

„ Loans Energy transmission firm moves to lock funding costs

Potential lenders have been invited to

submit proposals to refinance about

A$4bn (US$3bn) of maturing debt for

New South Wales’ energy transmission

firm TRANSGRID ahead an expected rise in

borrowing costs later this year.

The company is seeking tenors between

three and seven years. RBC Capital Markets

is advising on the deal.

The RFP has gone out to a wide group

of lenders to explore various financing

options and is likely to include tapping the

Japanese Ninja loan market following the

recent success there of the Victorian and

NSW desalination projects – AquaSure

and Sydney desalination plant.

The quest comes ahead of rising

borrowing costs expected later this year

as banks recalibrate pricing in light of

increased Libor and funding costs.

The existing lenders of the A$5.9bn

loan being partly refinanced are, at the

primary level, ANZ, Bank of Nova Scotia,

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, DBS

Bank, Export Development Canada, JP

Morgan, MUFG, Natixis, HSBC, RBC,

United Overseas Bank and Westpac

Banking Corp, according to Thomson

Reuters LPC data. Agricultural Bank of

China Sydney branch, First Commercial

Bank Brisbane branch, Hua Nan

Commercial Bank Sydney branch, Mizuho

Bank, Norinchukin Bank and Taiwan

Business Bank Sydney branch joined the

loan in the general syndication phase.

CAPITAL STRUCTURE

TransGrid was acquired by a Hastings

Funds Management-led consortium

for A$10.3bn, backed by the A$5.9bn

loan, in December 2015. The other

investors were Australian electricity

firm Spark Infrastructure, sovereign

fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority,

Kuwait’s Wren House Infrastructure and

Canadian pension fund Caisse de Depot et

Placement du Quebec.

The loan comprises a A$1.94bn 3.5-year

term loan, a A$1.94bn five-year term loan,

a A$620m seven-year term loan and two

3.5-year revolving credits of A$350m and

A$50m. The margins, calculated over

BBSY, were 85bp, 115bp and 145bp for

the respective tenors, based on a BBB-

equivalent credit profile.

There was also a A$1bn-equivalent two-

year bridge loan, which was refinanced

in the US private placement market in

August 2017.

The borrowing entity for both loans was

NSW ELECTRICITY NETWORKS FINANCE.

Since the acquisition, the international

business of Hastings was sold by its

parent Westpac to London-based

Northill Capital and re-branded Vantage

Infrastructure.

The investors in the two local Hastings-

managed funds – Utilities Trust of

Australia and The Infrastructure Fund –

have also changed managers. Morrison

& Co is managing UTA and Macquarie

Infrastructure & Real Assets has won the

mandate to manage TIF, said another

source familiar with the matter.

SHARON KLYNE

Top bookrunners of Australia syndicated loans

1/1/18 – 30/4/18

Amount

Name Deals US$(m) %

1 ANZ 10 3,551.1 34.4

2 Westpac 4 1,213.5 11.8

3 NAB 6 959.4 9.3

4 CBA 7 863.3 8.4

5 Mizuho 2 824.8 8.0

6 ICBC 1 700.0 6.8

7 Credit Agricole 1 649.8 6.3

8 MUFG 2 620.9 6.0

9 Barclays 1 268.7 2.6

10 UOB 2 194.2 1.9

Total 22 10,315.1

* Based on market of syndication and market total

Proportional credit

Source: Thomson Reuters SDC Code: S7