Australia

In September, a number of issuers have returned to the European corporate bond markets after a number of years without issuing. On Wednesday, German chemicals distributor, Brenntag, Australian property company Goodman, and Austrian steel company, Voestalpine, were the latest to join that list.

Westpac was set to squeeze the pricing for its debut additional tier one (AT1) in US dollars on Tuesday.

Adani Abbot Point Terminal, a unit of Indian conglomerate Adani Group, is hunting for an A$250m ($199m) syndicated loan, with the deal open to new lenders.

Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp has hired an experienced economist to head up its macro strategy team for Asia.

A slew of companies announced roadshows for European bond issues on Wednesday, setting next week up to be one of the busiest for months.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) could sell two tranches of long three year covered bonds in Australian dollars this week, as foreign issuers monitor the cash-rich market for opportunities to fund themselves at competitive levels.

Macquarie has hired Ric Deverell as chief economist and head of macro research.

ANZ’s cash profit rose 5.3% to A$1.79bn ($1.4bn) for the third quarter ending June 30, as the Australian lender continues to reshape its institutional banking business.

Places for People priced its debut Australian dollar transaction on August 10. The $150m five year deal was also the first by a social housing provider in Australia.

Verizon Communications launched its first Australian dollar bond on Thursday. The four tranche deal is the largest corporate bond in the currency this year, raising A$2.2bn ($1.75bn) when it was priced on Friday.

Westpac this week followed Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in taking advantage of a glut of sterling covered bond liquidity. It issued a sizeable five year sterling covered bond which is expected to provide cheaper funding than the euro or dollar equivalent, boding well for additional supply.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has laid out the foundations for its licensing of new index benchmarks, with five already in line to be classified as “significant”.