BOS only bond vendor at home

Philip Bayley
There was only one bond issue in the Australian market last week, this being from the Australian branch of Bank of Scotland Plc. The bank returned with another Commonwealth government guaranteed, 15-month issue, to raise A$1.15 billion at 25 basis points over bank bills and A$250 million priced at Commonwealth government bonds plus 55 bps.

The pricing of this latest issue relative to bank bills/swap is five bps wider than the previous two 15-month issues for BOS, undertaken in October and August.

Stockland Group is looking to lengthen its debt maturity profile. The property developer announced on Friday that it wants to buy back A$100 million of its June 2011 bonds (it has A$150 million floating rate notes outstanding and A$300 million of fixed rate notes) in exchange for new February 2015 bonds. The June 2011 bonds are the only bonds it currently has outstanding in the domestic market.