NARAIN Although we are a fairly recent issuer, I would say the amount of understanding USPP investors have of our sector compares very favourably with that of AMTN investors. For a debt book the size of ours, the USPP market will always be the core. We want to deal with investors who understand us.

To my mind the AMTN market will remain opportunistic, although it does offer some pricing advantage in certain maturities. Last year, when we finished pricing our USPP issue, we had reverse enquiry for 10 years from Australia at a more attractive level than where we had priced the USPP transaction.

However, how much volume would realistically be there was a question mark. For an issuer like us, which is not that large, it wasn’t attractive to test the appetite for a 10-year bond in Australian dollars. As a result, I think the AMTN market will remain a smaller piece of the puzzle in the short to medium term.

BRADBURN Ausgrid shares the same regulatory environment as Endeavour Energy, in which we are remunerated based on a 10-year trailing average-cost-of-debt benchmark.

Going longer is always something we look at as, while managing diversity and refi risk is important, we only get paid on a 10-year average and on 10-year tenor. So having seen the US come in with short-term appetite is really helpful.

NARAIN We are seeing a reasonable amount of bilateral demand from Asia in the 10- year space. But I think it will take time for these investors to understand our sector and start to buy in sizeable amounts. A question for issuers like us is whether we are prepared to do the hard work with these institutions to get them up to speed or is it better to wait for someone else to do the hard work that we can then take advantage of.

BARRAS It’s very time-specific. If I understand the comment, it means that issuers can now access markets in a way that is comparable in pricing to the USPP market. With the private-placement market you have to take a longer perspective – looking at what we provide. We provide flexibility, reliability, a personal relationship and more in-depth company and sector insight.

Companies have to be opportunistic and they need to diversify their funding sources. But, at the same time, the debt capital markets elsewhere aren’t as seasoned as they are in the US. In the USPP market we have proved time and time again that we will be there in good times and bad

LYONS Depth of understanding of an issuing company is our unique offering. It’s a unique market in the sense that all investors do their own work on the credits – it’s not a bank-agent market where we are told what the deal is and we can take it or leave it. All investors – even the smaller players – have a voice in the market and have a role to play in it.

This is part of what has created capacity growth. We have a market of investors who spend a lot of time upfront understanding a business, negotiating what is effectively a syndicated, bilateral document and continuing to follow that company quarter after quarter. This commitment upfront, the time put in by investors, is what creates the ever-growing capacity for issuers in the USPP market.

It’s not like the public markets which, as the old adage says, will give you an umbrella on a sunny day and take it away on a rainy day. The private, institutional market has proved that it lets you keep the umbrella on the rainy day.

BRADBURN Talking from my time at Brisbane Airport Corporation, the airport sector really appreciated the strong support it received from USPP investors through the financial-crisis period. We remember this.

MCKAY We are proactive in our management of markets – whether we are issuing or not. We try to treat our public investors the same as we treat private investors.

We visit Europe and the US every year – it’s in our interest that investors know and understand us well through good times and bad, which on balance should give us better ongoing access to markets though cycles.

It’s the same with our domestic market – we try to issue regularly so investors are familiar with the credit and if we need to issue they will be there to support the group.