Macquarie's equities desk was in the market late yesterday, seeking buyers for a big chunk of Westpac Banking Corp's stake in fund manager BT Investment Management, reports the AFR's Street Talk. The broker was said to be "seeking buyers for 60 million BT shares at $10.25 to $10.75 each", which would see Westpac reduce its stake in BT by 19.2 per cent - that is, from 30 per cent to 9.8 per cent. Westpac's remaining stake, some 30.8 million shares, will be placed in escrow until after BT's results for the first half of the 2018 financial year. Westpac Banking Corporation has priced a new 5.25-year covered bond transaction, comprising a A$1.6 billion floating and a A$400 million fixed rate, due 31 August 2022. The expected ratings are Aaa/AAA, from Moody's and Fitch, respectively, while the fixed rate tranche has a semi-annual coupon of 2.75 per cent and a cash price of 99.096. Initial pricing will yield 2.9375 per cent semi-annually, which equates to 76 basis points over the semi-quarterly asset swap. The floating rate tranche was priced to pay a coupon of 76 basis points over the three-month BBSW on a cash price of 100.00. Westpac Institutional Bank is the lead manager. Liberty Financial, rated BBB- (with a stable outlook) by Standard & Poor's, has priced a new three-year A$200 million senior unsecured medium term note transaction. The transaction comprises A$200 million of fixed rate notes due 1 June 2020. The fixed rate notes, the second issue by Liberty, to pay a coupon of 5.10 per cent payable semi-annually in arrear and a re-offer price 99.821 to yield 5.165 per cent. Joint lead managers are CBA and Westpac Institutional Bank. Settlement date is scheduled for 1 June.