Annualised corporate bond issuance reaches $112 billion
There were four issues undertaken in the domestic corporate bond market last week, thereby continuing the trend of steady issuance that has characterised the month. At the moment, the total volume for the month positions it as only the fourth largest for the year. That said, at A$7.3 billion the volume is well ahead of that seen in April 2009, of only A$4.0 billion. As a result, the rolling twelve-month issuance total stands at a new record of A$112 billion.AMP Capital Shopping Centre Fund (rated A-) and the Australian branch of Rabobank (AAA) were arguably the more interesting issuers of the week. The former sold A$200 million of five-year bonds, priced at 185 basis points over swap.The issue attracted considerable investor interest, such that the offer was more than twice oversubscribed. The issuer brought much needed diversity to the market but the issue also included such attractive features as being fully secured against underlying properties, enabling the issue to be rated a notch higher (A), and provision for a coupon step-up of 25 bps for each rating notch downgrade from 'BBB+' to 'BB+'.Rabobank added A$700 million to its July 2014 line at a spread of 82 bps over bank bills/swap. Rabobank opened the line in June last year at 130 bps over. The top-up was split, with A$275 million being added to the fixed-rate tranche to take outstandings to A$625 million, and A$425 million being added to the floating-rate tranche, taking outstandings to A$725 million.On Friday night, Rabobank also added A$50 million to its July 2012 EMTN, taking outstandings to A$1.1 billion.Asian Development Bank added A$400 million to its March 2020 line, taking outstandings to A$1.0 billion. The top-up was priced at 18.5 bps over swap and 57.75 bps over CGS, to yield 6.37 per cent per annum.KfW added A$300 million to its December 2019 bonds at a spread of approximately 42.5 bps over swap and 82.75 bps over CGS. The line now stands at A$1.65 billion.Queensland Treasury Corporation was the other notable issuer of the week, opening a new Queensland government guaranteed only benchmark, issuing A$3.0 billion of bonds with an April 2016 maturity. The bonds priced at 15 bps over swap and 63.5 bps over CGS, to yield 6.255 per cent per annum.