Ausgrid receives KangaNews Award for landmark US Private Placement supported by Scotiabank

Scotiabank congratulates Ausgrid, the largest distributor of electricity on Australia’s East Coast, for earning the coveted ‘Australian-Origin US Private Placement Deal of the Year’ title in the prestigious KangaNews Awards 2023¹.

The award-winning transaction – in which Scotiabank played a leading role as a Joint Lead Placement Agent – encompassed the successful pricing of AUD$1.5 billion equivalent (US$948.8 million) in the US private placement market, in nine tranches, across four maturity points and four currencies. Marking Ausgrid’s second time accessing the US private placement market, the issuance garnered strong investor interest and attractive terms for the Australian issuer.

Each year since 2007, KangaNews, a respected information service on the Australasian fixed-income market, has awarded outstanding achievements and performers, based exclusively on polling of the region’s debt market participants. This year, KangaNews selected the landmark June 27, 2023 issuance of guaranteed secured senior notes by Ausgrid Finance Pty Ltd, which ultimately spanned seven, 10, 12 and 15-year tenors, distributed across the AUD, USD, GBP and CAD currencies.

While this transaction was originally launched as a US$350 million equivalent issuance in four tenors, the issuer’s receptiveness to additional currencies enabled the bid book to become approximately 3.5 times oversubscribed, with additional interest from investors in CAD, GBP, AUD fixed and floating formats. This created a pricing benefit to Ausgrid, in part from the cross-currency swap, while allowing the transaction to reach AUD$1.5 billion equivalent and allocations among 19 investors. Ultimately, this approach produced an appealing, cost-effective result for the issuer that enhanced the diversity of its source of funds and investors and delivered greater liquidity.

Scotiabank’s Global Banking and Markets team was proud to support this transaction, building upon its track record of participation on notable mandates that have been recognized in the KangaNews Awards over the past six years. These previous awards include: the 2018 AUD$400 million USPP by Sydney Airport; the 2019 AUD$700 million USPP issue by Melbourne Airport; the 2020 AUD$600 million USPP issue by Sydney Airport; the 2021 AUD$1.745 billion USPP issue by WestConnex; and the 2023 AUD$1.5 billion USPP issue by Ausgrid.

Scotiabank anticipates the potential continued strong demand for Australian credit in the USPP market and is poised to serve issuer and investor requirements across its expansive wholesale banking advisory and distribution network in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.
 

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