Latest News
The government guaranteed 2013 maturity tranches of the deal priced by Commonwealth Bank of Australia (AA/Aa1) (CommBank) on December 10 were upsized to an unprecendented combined A$2.2 billion (US$1.45 billion) while the unguaranteed 2011 line the issuer brought at the same time achieved its A$500 million target.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (AA/Aa1) (CommBank) launched the first bond covered by the Australian government guarantee on December 9 as a domestic transaction, surprising observers who had expected the first test of market response to the guarantee to come in a major offshore jurisdiction.
The anticipated process of reorganisation following the credit downturn has started at a number of banks' Australian businesses, with J.P. Morgan and Citigroup among the institutions to cut back on Sydney-based secondary credit market activities in favour of centralised Asian operations.
Last week a number of intermediaries caused a firestorm in Europe when they tried to unilaterally increase fees for supranational, sovereign and agency (SSA) issuers, based on changing business conditions for lead managers and new fees being paid by government-guaranteed banks which have entered the triple-A space.
Intermediaries acknowledge that the window for hybrid deals in Australia has in all likelihood closed for the year with several potential deals not now expected to come to market, but hope remains that 2009 will offer opportunities for both on- and offshore issuers in the tier one (T1) space.