Australia and New Zealand Banking Group defended its crown again in 2018 with a series of groundbreaking deals across the primary issuance spectrum.
Few banks around the world can claim such consistent domestic dominance as ANZ, which once again topped the bond league tables on both sides of the Tasman Sea amid a slowdown of overall Antipodean supply after a record-breaking 2017.
“The key development in 2018 has been the rates cycle. This has impacted on foreign demand, notably out of Japan, and made the long end particularly challenging, though it has been contained by an expanding Australian investor base,” said ANZ’s global head of syndication, Paul White.
ANZ responded well to the shifting buyside dynamics to retain its now traditional position at the head of the Australian dollar bond table with 80 trades, excluding self-led issues, during the review period for a 13.3% share of the A$103.8bn (US$75bn) market.
It is not just the number and size of the trades executed but the breadth of the coverage that makes ANZ the go-to house across the range of Australian dollar issuance.
In the semi-government arena ANZ helped smash Australia’s Green bond record across all sectors when New South Wales Treasury Corp raised a whopping A$1.8bn from its first such offering, a 10-year print in November 2018.
Underlining its green credentials, ANZ was a lead on International Finance Corp’s A$300m March 2023 five-year Social Kangaroo bond, the inaugural social issue in the Kangaroo market from an SSA, and a A$125m three-year Sustainability bond from Victoria-based mutual Bank Australia.
In the corporate segment ANZ took more than a dozen Triple B and Single A offshore and onshore names to the Australian dollar market.
But arguably the most innovative transaction was the relatively modest A$150m debut 8.25% five-year non-call three sale from Virgin Australia, rated just B3/B– (Moody’s/S&P), which pushed the country’s developing high-yield bond market further down the credit curve.
ANZ continued to lead in the senior and subordinated, local and Kangaroo FIG universe where it was the number one house for Australian issuers and the first choice for Canadian, Middle Eastern, Korean, Japanese and Chinese bank supply.
Despite continuing to steer clear of the large non-conforming RMBS market, ANZ remained active in securitisation as it won a place on 10 tickets during the review period, encompassing bank and non-bank prime residential mortgage, auto and agricultural equipment-backed issues.
Across the ditch ANZ headed the New Zealand table for an astonishing 12th successive year having a market share of over 34% on all domestic and Kauri bond business.
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