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On March 24 Royal Bank of Scotland plc Australia Branch (RBS) (A+/Aa3/AA-) increased the floating rate tranche of the bonds priced on March 20 by a further A$200 million (US$142 million), taking the total tranche size to A$1.275 billion and full deal size to A$1.5 billion.

Tabcorp (BBB+) today launched a five-year A$200 million (US$142 million) bond offering to both retail and institutional investors by lodging a prospectus with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). Price guidance is 400-450 basis points over the three-month bank bill swap rate (BBSW), with the margin to be set on April 1.

AMP Bank (AMP) has priced A$535 million of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) through the Progress 2009-1 Trust. The Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) was a cornerstone investor, buying all the A$425 million of longer-dated triple-A rated Class A2 notes.

RBS Australia Branch (RBS) (A+/Aa3/AA-) has priced A$1.3 billion of fixed and floating rate notes guaranteed by the UK sovereign. Over 40 accounts participated in the deal - from Asia, Europe and Australia.

Christchurch City Council (AA+) has issued NZ$60 million (US$33.4 million) March 2014 bonds, sold to institutional investors. Meanwhile, the NZ$150 million deal from Auckland City Council (AA) which is being sold to retail investors closed today, with rate set due on Monday March 23.

The transaction launched on March 18 by Australia Post (AAA) priced a day later at the expected level of 130 basis points over swap. Although launched with a minimum size of A$250 million (US$169 million), strong demand resulted in a final volume of A$325 million.

RBS PLC Australia Branch (A+/Aa3/AA-) has launched a minimum
A$500 million (US$338 million) three-year transaction via joint bookrunners and joint lead managers Commonwealth Bank of Australia, J.P. Morgan and RBS Australia.

Three offshore banking names top KangaNews's league tables for Australian deals excluding self-led transactions, with HSBC Australia's position on the top line of the recent record-sized deal from Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) catapulting it to the top of the heap with A$2.24 billion (US$1.48 billion) of deal volume.

Bank of New Zealand (AA/Aa2) (BNZ) launched New Zealand’s first bank deal not backed by the local wholesale guarantee since November last year on March 18, offering NZ$50 million (US$26.47 million) of five-year paper covered by the retail guarantee at a slight premium to its recent similar tenor deals with full sovereign backing.

Australia Post (AAA) became the latest issuer to test the market for unguaranteed securities in Australia, launching a five-year bond on March 18 which sources close to the deal say was attracting significant investor interest prior to launch from a wide number and range of accounts.

The residential mortgage backed security (RMBS) transaction brought to market by Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (BEN) priced on March 13 at slightly tighter levels than a similar transaction from Credit Union Australia (CUA) that priced four days earlier. Both deals saw cornerstone investment from the Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM).

Bank of New Zealand (AA/Aa2) (BNZ) increased its five-year maturity government-guaranteed transaction – still the only outstanding line in the New Zealand market to be covered by the government’s wholesale guarantee – on March 5, topping the bond up by NZ$105 million (US$53.76 million) to a total of NZ$285 million.