NAB wins the prize for market timing
Issuance volumes continued to build in the domestic corporate bond market last week. Triple A rated agency issuers, KfW and Kommunalbanken were active, with the former pricing a A$250 million increase to its March 2017 line, at 105 bps over CGS, taking outstandings to A$1.45 billion. The latter added A$100 million to its February 2013 line to take outstandings to A$800 million. The increase was priced at 43 basis points over bank bills.Caterpillar Financial Australia (rated A) returned to the market with a A$150 million, three-year FRN issue priced at 125 bps over bank bills. Caterpillar added A$50 million to its December 2012 line in April.But the prize for the most opportunistic issue last week must go to National Australia Bank (rated AA). NAB tapped its April 1, 2013 fixed and floating rate bonds on Tuesday, adding A$325 million to the fixed rate tranche and A$675 million to the floating rate tranche. NAB priced its tap at 85 bps over swap/bank bills, an increase of just 8 bps over the original issuance level, confirming that there is investor demand for credit risk at margins that are not a great deal wider than they were before the onset of the GFC II. Although just how representative the outcome of this tap is remains open to question, with CDS spreads for three-year senior debt from the four major banks sitting around the mid 90 bps, at the time of the issue. But by the end of the week CDS spreads had moved much wider again and market conditions had soured on poor US housing numbers and concern that European austerity measures were going to wipe out any prospects for economic growth for some time to come. Added to this were worries about the imminent finalisation of the Wall St Reform Bill in the US and any impositions on global banking that may come out of the G20 meeting in Toronto, over the weekend.nab also added CHF50 million to the CHF200 million of seven-year EMTNs it issued the week before.