Australia: Has Canberra blown it?

Euromoney Limited, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 15236090

4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Euromoney Limited 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Australia: Has Canberra blown it?

What happens when you get Australian bankers on a beach for a barbecue? Euromoney invited five of Australia's top debt market professionals to Nielsen Park beach to find out. Steven Irvine put some prawns on the barbie.

The participants
Paul Bide, head of debt markets research, Bankers Trust
John Gerli, head of debt capital markets, Salomon Smith Barney
Wayne Hoy, head of capital markets, Commonwealth Bank of Australia
John Keith, head of origination, Nomura
Paul Umbrazunas, director, global markets, Deutsche Bank




Has the ADB damaged the kangaroo bond market?
[An Asian Development Bank (ADB) five-year issue for A$ 1 billion was launched in September 1998 at a spread of 39 basis points over the government bond. It widened by up to 25bp in the aftermarket.]:

Paul Bide: It's done damage to ADB's issuing prospects. But not to the market.

What was wrong with the deal?

Bide: They changed the coupon after the issue had been done.

Wayne Hoy: There were three things that went wrong with the deal: size, size, and size. [Commonwealth Bank of Australia was a joint lead manager on the deal. The lead manager and bookrunner was Warburg Dillon Read. A representative from lead manager Warburg Dillon Read was invited to the barbecue but declined to attend.]

Paul Umbrazunas: It was too big.

Hoy: A billion is a lot of money. I heard from your guys they were comfortable with x.

Gift this article