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The corona crisis solidified MuniFin’s position as the most trusted partner

The coronavirus crisis caused an upheaval in the municipal economy. In a challenging position to start with, municipalities suddenly had to adjust to a situation where income plummeted and expenditure grew radically. The uncertainty caused by the economic crisis was also reflected in the MuniFin customer experience survey, which was conducted in May–June and drew responses from 340 people who manage the finances of municipalities and state-subsidised housing companies.

“The initial shock created almost palpable uncertainty and caused people to crave information. When one commercial bank after another started to withdraw lending from the municipal sector, municipalities became concerned about the availability of funding, which resulted in a sudden spike in the demand for both long and short term funding”, says Aku Dunderfelt, head of customer finance at MuniFin.

The survey is conducted every six months to gauge customer experience and assess the position of lenders in the market. MuniFin’s customer satisfaction rating has improved significantly over the past couple of years and the most recent results confirm that this trend has continued. On a scale of 1 to 7, MuniFin scored an average customer satisfaction rate of 6.1, whereas six months earlier the score was 5.7.

Corona crisis put trust to the test

The survey results highlighted that customers place great importance on trust in the financing partner’s ability to handle the coronavirus crisis. MuniFin scored very high on this, reaching a rating of 6.3 on a scale of 1 to 7, when the average trust rate in banks was only 5.4. A total of 86% of respondents also said that reliability is MuniFin’s key strength.

“Our customer satisfaction has increased in leaps and bounds in recent years. These exceptional circumstances just go to show that the true test of customer value propositions happens in a time of crisis. We were able to quickly provide our customers both financing and information, offering them the tools to survive this situation. This shows as a clear spike in our customer engagement. Our customer satisfaction is built on successful funding and proactive customer service, even during a crisis”, says Dunderfelt.

Customers appreciate convenience and competitive prices – most are willing to recommend MuniFin

MuniFin’s positive customer experience is also reflected in how willing customers are to recommend the organisation. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) groups customers into ‘promoters’, ‘passives’ and ‘detractors’ based on how willing they are to recommend a company to a friend or a colleague. MuniFin’s NPS rating has been increasing steadily over the past few years, but in the latest survey, it shot up to 71. In comparison, the average NPS in the banking industry is 22. According to the survey, seven out of ten customers are willing to recommend MuniFin in both the municipal and housing sectors.

“Ensuring a first-class customer experience and excellent customer service has been very difficult in the financial sector this year. It is extraordinary how well MuniFin has been able to continue to consolidate its position, especially in terms of reliability. The gap between MuniFin and last year’s highest ranking banking sector company is considerable, as this company only reached a NPS rating of 54”, explains Heidi Laitinen, country manager at EPSI Rating Group, the company that conducted the survey.

In addition to customers’ willingness to recommend a company, the survey also looked at what customers most value in a financing partner. The key qualities reported were competitive pricing, services that are easy to use, suitable financing solutions and responsibility, all factors that customers considered as MuniFin’s strong points.

Increasing need for a comprehensive financial review

The survey results show that online services are an integral part of a smooth customer experience. According to the results, it is easy to do business with MuniFin, and MuniFin’s online services and tools are heading in the right direction: 47% of respondents see MuniFin’s digital services as a strong point and 49% consider them to be in line with the industry standard. Compared to the previous survey, there was a 15% increase in the number of respondents who saw MuniFin’s digital services as a strong point.

These days, customers also expect more of digital tools. They value the ease of online services and the broader outlook that new financial modelling tools can offer the municipal economy. Customers also expect their financing partners to take a more consulting approach in financial planning.

MuniFin’s customer experience survey was conducted as an email survey between 29 May and 26 June 2020, with 340 participants who manage the finances of municipalities and state-subsidised housing companies. The survey is conducted every six months in collaboration with EPSI Rating Group.


Written by Heidi Penttinen

Photo by George Atanassov

MuniFin

Timo Vesala: Second pandemic round challenges Finland’s economy – impact has remained relatively mild compared to European peers

The initial impact of the corona crisis was relatively muted in Finland. According to the latest GDP estimates, output fell by 5.7 percent in the first half of the year. That is considerably less than the 15 percent contraction in Eurozone over the same period – not to mention the most severely hit economies, like the UK and Spain, where GDP has declined over 20 percent in the first two quarters of the year.

The first wave of the pandemic never led to a serious health crisis in Finland and a complete lockdown of the economy was avoided. Private consumption dropped but not as badly as in many other European countries. Factories remained open, which supported employment and industrial production. 

In the second half of the year, the key uncertainties relate to the indirect effects coming from declining world trade and weaker investment spending. Swings in external demand and global investment cycle are typically transmitted to Finnish production with a few months delay. These lagging second round effects are likely to keep the pace of economic recovery slower in Finland than in the wider Euro Area.  

The latest economic projections look slightly better than the previous forecasts published in the summer. The consensus now expects Finnish GDP to contract by about 4-5 percent this year and grow about 2-3 percent in 2021. Risks of the macroeconomic outlook are still tilted to the downside, however. Another wide spread escalation of the pandemic could halt the recovery and lead to a renewed drop in global output. Countries that have experienced a significant second wave of Covid-19 infections have already witnessed much slower pace of recovery, especially in the service sector. Fading government support could also pile up corporate bankruptcies and cause spikes in unemployment.

So far, Finnish employment has held up surprisingly well. Transition to remote work has been successful. Finnish legislation on temporary lay-offs has also enabled employers to save in labor costs while avoiding permanent loss of potential workforce. However, as the ongoing recession will inevitably cause some long-term damage to productive capacity, unemployment is likely to increase in the future. The Ministry of Finance expects Finnish unemployment rate to reach its cyclical peak at 9.0 percent in 2021, which would be clearly higher than the pre-crisis level of 6.7 percent.   

Financial support to private enterprises, households and municipalities has substantially increased public spending this year. There will also be a significant drop in tax revenues. Therefore, general government deficit is expected to rise to about 8 to 9 percent of GDP in 2020 and remain elevated at more than 5 percent in 2021. Finnish public debt/GDP was below 60 percent in 2019. It will most likely rise above 70 percent this year and it is on track to rise close to 80 percent over the next 4 to 5 years. Despite such a steep rise, it would still be a relatively low debt-to-GDP-ratio compared to many European peer economies.  

The writer is the Chief Economist at Municipality Finance (MuniFin).

Further information:

Timo Vesala

Chief Economist, MuniFin

Tel. +358 50 5320 702

Economy

MuniFin celebrates the issuing of Finland’s first social bond – rings opening bell at Nasdaq Helsinki

In addition to being the first social bond issued by a Finnish entity, MuniFin’s debut social bond also claims the title of the first Nordic social bond in the SSA category. The 15-year EUR 500 million product was met with overwhelming investor demand, and the bond, issued on September 3rd, was overbooked by nearly four times. 

With its introduction of the social finance product, MuniFin aims to encourage investments that have a notably strong impact and bring about wide-ranging social benefits. The first projects to receive financing within the MuniFin Social Bonds Framework were announced in June. These projects involve schools, hospitals and healthcare centers as well as housing for people with special needs. 

Social bonds expand MuniFin’s range of sustainable finance products. The company has been an active green bond issuer for four years and it is now expanding the offering into social bonds. 

Click here to watch a recording of the opening ceremony at Nasdaq Helsinki (Presentations in Finnish)

 Read more:  
 MuniFin leads the way by issuing the first Nordic SSA Social Bond 

Nasdaq Helsinki welcomes Municipality Finance as its First Social Bond Issuer 

FundingMuniFinSocial bondSustainability

Nasdaq Helsinki welcomes Municipality Finance as its First Social Bond Issuer

On 10 September 2020, Nasdaq announced that Municipality Finance Plc has listed its inaugural social bond on the Nasdaq Sustainable Debt Market at Nasdaq Helsinki. The bond notional is EUR 500 million with a maturity of 15 years, explicitly guaranteed by the Municipal Guarantee Board. MuniFin’s issuance is the first social bond listed on Nasdaq Helsinki and the first social bond issued by an SSA (Sovereigns, Supranationals, Agencies) issuer in the Nordic countries.

MuniFin has been an active green bond issuer for four years and is now expanding the offering into social bonds. The proceeds of the social bond issue will finance projects that fall into one of the three categories of social housing, welfare and education and they promote equality, sense of community, wellbeing and vitality of regions and/or municipalities. The first financed projects include schools, hospitals and health care centres and housing for people with special needs.

– We are extremely proud to be in the forefront of Nordic and European sustainable finance. Even if all of our financing is aimed at building and developing the Nordic welfare state, social finance is a flagship product that highlights the wide-ranging effects that municipal and non-profit housing investments have both on individuals and the society as a whole, said Esa Kallio, President and CEO at MuniFin.

– The investor response for our inaugural social bond was overwhelmingly positive. This is a strong testimony that the financial markets want to actively transform societies and make them more sustainable.

– With the help of issuers such as MuniFin, we have in recent years seen Nasdaq develop into an important hub for sustainable investments in Europe with more than 230 bonds listed on Nasdaq´s Sustainable Debt Market. Following many international firsts, such the first green corporate bond by Vasakronan and first city bond issued by Gothenburg, Sweden, we are especially happy to see continued leadership coming from the Nordic region, said Ann-Charlotte Eliasson, Head of European Debt Listings and Sustainable Bonds at Nasdaq.

– We are excited to welcome MuniFin, a Finnish pioneer in sustainable finance, as our first social bond issuer in Finland, said Henrik Husman, President of Nasdaq Helsinki.

– MuniFin was also our first green bond issuer in 2018, and we have now five sustainable bonds listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. We look forward to seeing additional issuers following this trend.

Source: Nasdaq Helsinki

FundingMuniFinSocial bondSustainability

MuniFin leads the way by issuing the first Nordic SSA Social Bond

Last week MuniFin mandated BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole CIB, DZ Bank and SEB to organise investor calls for the upcoming inaugural Social Bond. After series of investor calls and positive feedback from investor community, MuniFin opened books for the inaugural Social bond on Thursday 3rd of September. The 15-year EUR 500 million social bond pays an annual coupon of 0.05% with a yield of 0.068%.

– The work the MuniFin team have done has built on their strong reputation in the ESG space and has been rewarded with a huge following from sustainable investors and excellent execution. This framework and transaction sets the benchmark for other Nordic institutions to follow, comments Robert Matthews from BNP Paribas.

More than 91% of the bond was distributed to European investors. Almost one third of the bond was allocated to Germany, Austria and Switzerland and nearly one fifth to Nordic coutries. Asset managers took the largest share by representing almost half of the investors, with significant demand from SRI investors.

– The terrific invest interest did not come as a surprise for us as we see more and more investors wanting to invest in projects that support sustainable development. In 2016, we were the first green bond issuer in Finland. After being an active green bond issuer for a few years, it was time to expand the sustainable product offering to our clients and introduce social bonds to our investors. Considering our customer base of municipal and social housing sectors, expanding the sustainable product offering was a natural step for us, says Esa Kallio, the President and CEO of MuniFin.

MuniFin is a wholly public sector owned company whose sole mandate is to secure financing to the Finnish municipalities and non-profit housing organisations. It has been an active green bond issuer for four years and it is now expanding the offering into social bonds.

MuniFin’s inaugural social bond is the first of its kind issued by an SSA (Sovereigns, Suprana-tionals, Agencies) issuer in the Nordic countries.

Making the impact visible

MuniFin’s Social Bonds Framework has been drafted in accordance with the ICMA Social Bond Principles and it has three main categories: social housing, welfare and education. The Second Opinion has been provided by ISS ESG, stating that the Framework significantly contributes to four of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

With its new social finance product launched in the spring 2020, MuniFin aims to encourage investments that have a notably strong impact and bring about wide-ranging social benefits.

With the introduction of the social finance product, MuniFin wishes to showcase projects that are in line with the company’s view of social finance. The first financed projects include schools, hospitals and healthcare centres, and housing for people with special needs.

– Although the finance we provide can be considered already quite social in nature, we wanted to find projects that ultimately benefit the vulnerable population and address some key social challenges such as social exclusion and inequality, but also further promote Finland’s welfare state and education system, which are among the best in the world, says Antti Kontio, the Head of Funding at MuniFin.

The social finance projects are approved by the Social Evaluation Team. The team consists of external and internal social impact experts.

Issuer:Municipality Finance Plc (MuniFin)
Rating:Aa1 / AA+ (Moody’s/S&P – both stable)
Issue size:EUR 500mn (no-grow)
Payment date:10th September 2020 (T+5)
Maturity date:10th September 2035
Coupon:0.05%
Re-offer price:99.731%
Re-offer yield:0.068%
Re-offer vs. mid swaps:+9bps
Re-offer vs. benchmark:DBR 0% 05/15/35 + 33.6bps
Lead managers:BNP Paribas / Credit Agricole CIB / DZ BANK / SEB

Further information:

Esa Kallio
President and CEO
Tel. +358 50 337 7953

Antti Kontio
Head of Funding
Tel. +358 50 3700 285

FundingMuniFinSocial bondSustainability

MuniFin’s half year results webcast on 14 August 2020

Municipality Finance Plc will publish its half year report for January–June 2020 on 14 August 2020. A webcast for investors and other stakeholders will be arranged in English on 14 August at 1:00 pm CET / 2:00 pm EET and broadcast live at munifin.videosync.fi/half-year-report-2020/register.

Presentations:

  • Esa Kallio, President and CEO
  • Timo Vesala, Chief Economist
  • Joakim Holmström, Head of Capital Markets

There will be an opportunity to ask questions via chat channel after the presentations.

You can register for the webcast in advance or just before the live broadcast time. Registration and viewing are accessible from the same link at munifin.videosync.fi/half-year-report-2020/register. A recording is available after the webcast at the same address.

Further information:

Soili Helminen, Manager, Communications & CSR, MuniFin
tel. + 358 400 204 853

EconomyFundingMuniFin

MuniFin returned to the USD market with a new successful 3-year benchmark

MuniFin took advantage of the favourable market condition to announce the mandate of their first USD benchmark transaction of 2020. This 3-year benchmark follows MuniFin’s successful EUR transactions in January and April. Following the volatile spring, MuniFin was able to deftly identify an open issuance window and gather an impressive order book of the highest quality.

The transaction was announced to the market at 13 pm London time on Monday 22nd June 2020, with investors invited to reflect Indications of Interest (IOIs) for a USD benchmark transaction. Initial Price Thoughts – IPTs – of MS+19bps area were released in tandem, representing a marginal new issue concession to fair value.

The investor response throughout the European afternoon and overnight US sessions was strong, with IOIs exceeding USD 2.1bn by the London open on Tuesday 23rd June. Due to the quality of the order book, price guidance was revised by 2bp to MS+17bps area. Momentum continued throughout the London morning reaching USD 2.8bn (Excluding Join Lead Manager interest). At this stage, the decision was taken to tighten and set the spread at MS+16bps in order to provide clarity to investors.

Given the USD1bn capped deal size and in order to limit further order book growth, it was decided that books would go subject just twenty minutes later at 9.30am London time.

The bond priced with a final spread to the 3yr US Treasury of 21.1 bps which represents for a 3y USD benchmark the tightest MS spread for an Agency issuer in 2020. Despite this, the demand from the Official Institution and Central Bank community was significant at 68%. In terms of geographical distribution, the bond was evenly distributed across EMEA, Americas and Asian-based investors alike.

MuniFin has funding requirement of EUR 9.5bn for 2020 and after this transaction MuniFin has completed EUR 6.4bn of the funding for the year.

Comments from the bookrunners

“MuniFin showed skill this week by feeling the excellent market conditions and accelerating a project that would perhaps otherwise have been scheduled for next month. The timing of the announcement yesterday proved on point thus attracting the biggest ever USD IOI book for MuniFin and a very successful transaction overall which confirms MuniFin’s high reactionary stature among its peers.”
Jonas Ulrich, Director, SSA DCM, Deutsche Bank

“A fantastic outcome for MuniFin, taking advantage of favourable conditions to price the tightest 3-year USD benchmark versus MS from a European agency since the pandemic outbreak. The high quality of orders that reached one of the issuer’s record book sizes is proof of MuniFin’s strong recognition with global investors.”
Angelica-Maria Strolz, Executive Director, SSA DCM, J.P. Morgan

“A fantastic transaction by MuniFin for their first USD benchmark of 2020. Attracting demand in excess of $2.8bn whilst also pricing through their outstanding USD curve is a clear testament to the unique qualities of their credit, along with the strong following that MuniFin enjoys across the global investor base. Congratulations to the whole team!”
Stuart McGregor, Managing Director, SSA Syndicate, RBCCM

“We applaud MuniFin on a truly excellent return to the USD market, in what was a flawlessly executed and well timed transaction. By taking advantage of a clear issuance window, MuniFin ensured full investor focus on their transaction and it paid off; with an order book dominated by high quality Central Banks and Bank Treasuries.”
Laura Quinn, Head of Origination, TD Securities

Issuer Municipality Finance Plc (“MuniFin”)
Rating Aa1/AA+ (all stable)
Issue size USD 1.0 billion
Settlement date 1 July 2020 (T+6)
Maturity date 1 September 2023
Coupon 0.375% payable semi-annually
Re-offer price 99.855%
Re-offer yield 0.421%
Re-offer vs benchmark T 0.25% June/23 + 21.1bps
Re-offer vs mid-swaps +16bps
Lead managers Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities
Co-lead managers HSBC, MUFG Securities EMEA, Mizuho Securities, SMBC Nikko

Further information:

Antti Kontio
Head of Funding, MuniFin
Tel. +358 50 3700 285  

FundingMuniFin

Timo Vesala: Finland’s economy is pulling through the corona crisis surprisingly well – second-round effects remain to be seen

The outbreak of coronavirus has led to a sharp decline in global economic activity in the first half of 2020. Amid the most vicious phase of the epidemic in March-April, many countries had to shut down large parts of their societies in order to contain the spread of the virus. These lockdowns caused serious damage to many businesses, most notably to firms providing services to consumers. The most affected countries have already experienced a significant spike in unemployment.

Many timely indicators suggest, however, that activity is already recovering as countries gradually open their economies. Central banks and governments have reacted strongly to limit the risk of a prolonged economic crisis.  Monetary authorities have supported flow of credit to the real economy and maintained adequate liquidity in financial markets. Governments, in turn, have undertaken various measures to prevent broad-based insolvency in the corporate sector and to avoid unnecessary lay-offs.

Finland’s early measures softened the blow

In Finland, the corona epidemic never escalated into a serious health crisis as early containment measures – such as restrictions on gatherings and shut down of schools and restaurants – helped flatten the infection curve. Private consumption took a hit but not as badly as in many other European countries. Finland’s relatively strong and diversified industrial base probably mitigated the initial impact of the virus.

However, there will also be indirect effects coming from declining world trade and weaker investment spending. As a small open economy, Finland is particularly dependent on external demand and global investment cycle. These second-round effects of the pandemic are likely to keep the pace of recovery somewhat slower in Finland than in wider Euro Area. There is also a risk that a slowdown in domestic construction could contribute negatively to growth over the next couple of years.

According to the latest macroeconomic projections by the Ministry of Finance, Finnish GDP will contract by about 6 percent in 2020, which is a clearly milder scenario than for example the ECB base line forecast for the whole Euro Area (ca. -9 %). In longer time horizon, The Ministry of Finance expects the Finnish economy to grow 2.5 percent in 2021 and around 1.5 percent in 2022–2023.

Given the magnitude of the shock, Finnish employment has held up surprisingly well. Transition to remote work has been successful. Finnish legislation on temporary lay-offs has also enabled employers to save in labor costs while avoiding permanent loss of potential workforce. The ongoing recession will nevertheless cause some long-term damage to productive capacity and unemployment is likely to increase in the future. The Ministry of Finance expects Finnish unemployment rate to reach its cyclical peak at 9.0 percent in 2021, which would be clearly higher than the pre-crisis level of 6.7 percent.

Promoting structural growth in employment has been a top priority in Finnish economic policy since 2015. This priority will undoubtedly resume once the pandemic is contained.

As in all countries, there will be a drop in tax revenues due to the corona crisis. Broad-based government support to private enterprises, households and municipalities will also be needed to mitigate the negative impact of coronavirus. Therefore, general government net borrowing is expected to rise to 8.2 percent of GDP in 2020 and remain elevated at 5.1 percent in 2021. Finnish public debt/GDP was below 60 percent in 2019. In 2020, it will most likely rise above 70 percent, which would still be a relatively low ratio in international comparison.

The writer is the Chief Economist at Municipality Finance (MuniFin).

Further information:

Timo Vesala

Chief Economist, MuniFin

Tel. +358 50 5320 702

Economy

Joensuu’s new landmark – a wooden “lighthouse” soars above the rooftops

Lighthouse’s topping out ceremony was held at the cusp of spring in March 2019 and the first residents were able to move into their new homes at the end of August. The last apartment had been rented by the beginning of September.

“The whole process – obtaining permits, tendering out the contract, design, planning and construction – ended up taking about forty months,” says Jarmo Ojalainen, Managing Director of Joensuun Elli. Joensuun Elli is responsible for the city’s student housing and was the developer in this project. Although design and planning began back in 2016, actual construction was not launched for a couple of years.

He admits that the design phase was rather tough at times.

“Luckily, the foundation work and construction went smoothly and much more quickly. Things started to get easier as soon as we reached the second floor, and we managed to avoid any major adversity.”

Ojalainen says that the idea to build Finland’s tallest wooden building came from the City of Joensuu. Several districts already had important wooden buildings, but the City wanted one in the Penttilänranta residential area as well.

 “As the City’s subsidiary, we wanted to demonstrate that wooden construction is a style with great potential. The plot already had a city plan that permitted construction up to a maximum height of fourteen storeys, so we had to make full use of those building rights,” he says.

The many benefits of wooden construction

Although the design and planning for Lighthouse began back in 2016, actual construction was not launched for a couple of years. Photo: Rami Saarikorpi

While the wooden building was under construction in Penttilänranta, its structures were kept dry throughout the entire process. Working with wood is usually easier than working with concrete.

“Once a wooden frame has been completed, there’s no need to dry it as is often the case with a concrete frame. Conditions on the construction site were also more pleasant than they usually are in concrete construction,” says Jarmo Ojalainen.

He says that although wood is not vastly different to concrete in terms of livability, it does have one special advantage.

“Sound does not echo as much in a wooden house, which results in very pleasant acoustics.”

When it comes to costs, Ojalainen estimates that building a wooden building as a one-off investment costs about ten per cent more than a concrete one. He believes this will change in the future as construction methods evolve.

“Advancements will make wooden buildings more competitive, that is, the price level will certainly start to fall.”

All the essential wooden elements were obtained from Stora Enso. The wall elements are made of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) manufactured in Varkaus, while the intermediate floor elements are cross-laminated timber (CLT).

Satisfied residents

The building was already attracting plenty of attention during the construction phase. A couple of open doors events were arranged on the site.

“Almost five hundred people attended the second event over the space of three hours. The building seemed to be of interest even during the construction phase. The location is great – close to educational institutions, the city centre and the railway station – with the added bonus of really amazing views,” says Ojalainen.

Pinja Juurakko, who is studying to become a forestry engineer at Joensuu University of Applied Sciences, is a Lighthouse resident. Juurakko says that she loves her studio apartment.

“I was extremely surprised at how much I like living here. There have never been any problems. I fully intend to live here throughout my studies,” says Juurakko, who moved into the building in September.

She also confirms that living in a wooden house is acoustically pleasing.

“It’s really quiet – no echo. This is definitely one of the positive aspects of the place. Another is the residents, who are friendly and communicative even though they don’t know each other,” she says.

FACT: Action to promote Finland’s wellbeing society

Lighthouse, Finland’s tallest wooden building, was funded by Municipality Finance. Projects funded by Municipality Finance maintain and enhance Finland’s wellbeing society.

Text: Pihla Hakala

Photos: Rami Saarikorpi

Case

MuniFin returned to New Zealand’s Kauri market

On June 12th, 2020 MuniFin issued a new 3-year NZD 150 million public Kauri transaction in New Zealand. Previous public transaction in New Zealand was issued in 2013, which matured in May 2020. Prior to launching the transaction MuniFin organised an investor call targeted for domestic investors and based on the positive feedback, MuniFin decided to move forward and launch a public transaction.

”We were positively surprised with investor demand”, says Antti Kontio, Head of Funding at MuniFin. ”The order book grew to NZD 270 million so we could have printed a larger trade but unfortunately due to our good liquidity situation we could do only NZD 150 million. We will, however, be open for taps on that line in the future. Kauri market acts as an excellent diversification tool for MuniFin in terms of currency and investor base”, Kontio says.

The new 150 million NZD Kauri is repo eligible in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and pays an semi-annual coupon of 0.625% and was priced 46 basis points over mid-swaps and 39 basis points over the New Zealand Government bond. Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) acted as a sole lead manager.

“With seven years since the last issue, NZ investors very much appreciated the call with the MuniFin team, and were straight away interested in a transaction following it. There was a very good uptake of the transaction by real money investors, demonstrating the confidence they have in the credit”, said Mike Faville, who is leading the Capital Markets function at BNZ.

Bank of New Zealand has been running a programme to plant 100 Kauri trees for each Kauri bond issue we lead, and there are now over 10,000 trees already planted. “We really look forward to planting another 100 trees in honour of MuniFin for this transaction, to join the 100 from the last deal”, Mike Faville concludes.

Further information:

Antti Kontio
Head of Funding, MuniFin
tel. +358 50 3700285

Mike Faville
Head of Capital Markets, Bank of New Zealand
tel. +64 9 375 1391

FundingMuniFin