More council issuance in New Zealand

Greater Wellington Regional Council (rated AA-) became the next Council to issue bonds in the local market, raising NZ$25 million for 3.5 years at 83 basis points over swap. This is slightly better result than the pricing achieved by similarly rated councils, whose recent three-year issues were priced at 85 bps over.

Separately, New Zealand's Hutt City Council had the outlook on its 'AA/A-1+' long- and short-term credit ratings from Standard & Poor's revised to positive. The revision reflects S&P's expectation that Hutt will strengthen its sound fiscal balances and that the council's debt ratio will continue to decline.

S&P said the ratings could be raised as Hutt moves closer to its target of net debt around 50 per cent of operating revenue but a return to stable would occur if these expectations were not met or there was a change in the debt reduction policy by the council, following the October 2010 election.