Westpac retail bonds fizz
Retail investors in New Zealand have found the terms of two long-term debt issues from Westpac a little hard to take, with the bank selling less debt than it hoped in an offer that closed late last week.Westpac New Zealand (rated AA- by S&P) returned to the NZ retail market for the second time this year, hoping to raise up to NZ$400 million for five years and up to NZ$500 million for seven years. While the bank came close to its five-year target, raising NZ$385 million, it fell well short of its seven-year target, raising only NZ$235 million. It is understood the seven-year tranche was open to retail investors, who were apparently underwhelmed.Pricing was at the wide end of the indicated ranges with the five-year floating rate notes priced at 185 basis points over bank bills and the seven-year bonds priced at 205 bps over swap.Westpac fared better in the offshore institutional market where the bank (this time with an offer made at the group level) sold €1.0 billion of seven-year covered bonds against an order book of €1.2 billion. The covered bonds were priced at a tight 55 basis points over mid-swaps, which should swap back to an Australian dollar cost of around 150 bps over bank bills.Rabobank Australia (rated AA) also sold term debt offshore last week. It placed A$100 million of three-year Eurobonds at a spread of 124 bps over mid-swaps.Back in New Zealand, Z Energy (which does not have a published credit rating) revealed more about its plans for a retail bond. The company will open its latest bond offer on July 18 and will seek up to NZ$150 million for seven years.The coupon is expected to be set at 6.5 per cent per annum and the offer will close on August 10.