Tabcorp offering shows retail attraction for select deals [UPDATED]
The issuer and lead arranger of Tabcorp Holdings (Tabcorp)'s (BBB) subordinated retail bond offering say the transaction demonstrates the buy- and sell-side appeal of a particular type of listed bond issuance. On February 15, Tabcorp set the margin on the minimum A$200 million (US$213.8 million) subordinated offer at 400 basis points over bank bill swap rate (BBSW).LGFA gearing up for beginning of NZ$1 billion funding task
A day ahead of the February 15 first tender of bonds from New Zealand's Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) the new borrower has set out a bullish line on pricing. While conceding that it will have to pay a new issue premium, the LGFA believes there are strong fundamentals supporting initial pricing at least 40 basis points tighter than even the lowest margin individual local authority paper.Tightening goes on in NAB senior deal and Westpac covered
Having widened to record levels for deals priced at the beginning of 2012, primary market margins for Australian banks have in the past week continued their tightening bias in both on- and offshore markets. The most recent benchmark trades are National Australia Bank (NAB)'s senior unsecured – the first of the year in the domestic market from a big four bank – and Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac)'s euro covered bond debut.
Pricing info on February 10 domestic issue from SPIAA
SPI (Australia) Assets (SPIAA) (A-/A3) launched and priced its second transaction in the Australian dollar bond market on February 10. The deal was doubled in size from its launch volume of A$200 million (US$213.9 million) while the margin remained at its indicative level of 185 basis points over swap – the same as that achieved by National Australia Bank (AA-/Aa2/AA) in its recent domestic five-year senior issue.