Staying on top:
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group successfully navigated an extraordinarily challenging year across Antipodean markets to maintain its position as the dominant bond house on both sides of the Tasman Sea.
It was either sole or joint lead manager on the most Australian dollar bond trades (77) in 2022 to secure a table-topping 14.8% share of the A$125.2bn (US$85bn) market, according to Refinitiv data.
“This year we saw the worst backdrop since the global financial crisis, with the war in Ukraine fuelling higher inflation, which has led to interest rate rises around the globe,” said Jimmy Choi, ANZ’s global head of DCM.
Though annual issuance was little changed from 2021’s A$119.3bn total, two sectors performed very differently. “Financials have seen a threefold increase in issuance, while corporate supply has slumped around 70% as loan financing dominated,” Choi said.
ANZ’s broad footprint served it well as it successfully adapted to the shifting primary market.
“While others have a niche approach, ANZ operates on a full franchise platform, encompassing SSA, rates, corporates, financials and ABS markets,” said Adam Gaydon, head of syndication at the bank.
FIG issuance soared as banks returned en masse to the local senior unsecured bond market following the end of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s low-cost Term Funding Facility.
ANZ headed the FIG league table, excluding self-led deals, having been on every public benchmark regional bank trade in the senior market as well as the covered bond sales from ING Bank (Australia) and Suncorp-Metway, and BEN Bank’s inaugural covered transaction.
Other highlights include second spot in the rates market, just behind segment leader Westpac, where ANZ participated in the Commonwealth government’s A$14bn May 2034 print and numerous syndicated sales for New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Australian Capital Territory.
ANZ secured the second spot in the shrunken corporate market, helping arrange NBN’s two A$800bn trades, Ausnet’s A$500m six-year deal and Air New Zealand’s A$550m dual-trancher.
ANZ was also the highest-ranked domestic bank for Kangaroo issuance and a commendable fourth in the securitisation league table, despite its ongoing and deliberate absence from the non-prime segment.
Across the ditch, ANZ secured an impressive circa 25% market share in the New Zealand dollar market.
ANZ was on eight of the year’s 12 Kauri trades which raised a combined NZ$6.4bn (US$4.1bn) and both government syndicated transactions, including the groundbreaking debut NZ$3bn sovereign green bond sale in November.
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Corrected story: Corrects rates league table position