Sky City buys back while AIA is set to issue

Staying in New Zealand, Standard & Poor's announced it had rated a new NZ$25 million, seven-year, bond to be issued by Auckland International Airport, 'A-', in line with the 'A-/Stable/A-2' issuer ratings assigned to the airport. There was no word on when the issue is to take place.

Reuters reported that casino operator, Sky City, had bought back a US$115.5 million private placement that had been due to mature in March 2012. The buyback was completed in two stages with US$62.5 million being bought back at par and the remainder being acquired at 98 cents in the dollar. This resulted in an average buyback price of 99 cents.

The NZDMO saw substantial investor demand for its bond issuance last week. The debt office issued NZ$150 million of November 2011 bonds, NZ$50 million of December 2017 bonds and $50 million of May 2021 bonds.

The bids came in at 2.4, 2.7 and 11 times for the bonds yielding 4.0 per cent, 5.9 per cent and 6.4 per cent on average, respectively. Maybe it had something to do with the decline in international holdings last month.