market_table_20100809
BNP Paribas found investors over the last week for several instalments of the French banking giant's debt - a reminder of how rare it now is for a money centre bank to actively market Australian dollar securities.
BNP, through its Australian branch, sold A$1.0 billion of three-year bonds to 110 investors. Reuters reported that the bank sold nearly half of the issue offshore, evenly split between Asian and European investors.
The pricing of the issue was attractive, being the same as that for NAB's four-year deal from the day before (and reported in the next article) but it is encouraging to see such strong offshore demand for Australian dollar denominated bonds. Investor appetite for risk is returning.
BNP initially marketed the deal with a pricing range of 105 basis points to 110 bps. The bank received orders from 150 investors for A$1.5 billion of bonds. As it was, BNP issued A$450 million of fixed rate notes and A$550 million of FRNs.
Friday of the week prior, BNP privately placed A$250 million of bonds from the bank's March 2015 line that were priced at 135 bps over swap, the Friday before. The increase takes outstandings in five-year debt to A$550 million.