ANZ retires low cost subordinated debt
In a reminder of the manner in which banks prefer to cater to investor expectations, ANZ said yesterday that it will redeem A$600 million in subordinated debt on October 18. ANZ sold the debt, in floating rate and fixed rate tranches in October 2007 at 75 basis points over the 90-day bank bill swap rate.When ANZ last sold subordinated debt in the domestic market (in March 2012) it paid 275 bps over the bank bill swap rate.Most recently, ANZ sold subordinated debt in the US market. This was two months ago. The bank sold US$750 million via a subordinated, ten year, non-call five bond issue priced at 290 bps over US Treasury bonds at the time.