Australia/New Zealand Bond House: Westpac
Scaling new peaks
Australian bonds scaled new peaks in 2025 as the currency grew in significance for international issuers and investors. With its breadth of coverage, execution and secondary prowess, Westpac played a central role in this expansion and fully deserves to retain its crown as IFR Australia and New Zealand Bond House of the Year.
Total bond supply, excluding self-led transactions and ABS, reached A$184.8bn (US$119bn) in the awards period, surpassing 2024’s A$179bn annual record, despite global market disruptions this year.
“We are seeing new money and new borrowers coming to a market which is in a transformative stage as it tries to establish itself as the third mainstream market in the world after US dollars and euros,” explained Peter Block, head of corporate DCM at Westpac.
Westpac was on 93 of the 220 bond tickets, the most of any bookrunner, to earn a 13.8% share of the market, according to LSEG data.
The government sector had another very strong year with over A$80bn raised from the Commonwealth, six states and two territories with Westpac on lead manager duty for all nine issuers.
While financial issuance was close to 2024 levels, the corporate market grew, breaking its A$28bn annual supply record, thanks to the rise in hybrid and Kangaroo transactions.
Between the financial crisis and before the reopening of the market in September 2024, just A$1.8bn was raised from corporate hybrids. By contrast, during the 2025 awards period, A$6.225bn was issued by eight companies with Westpac participating in transactions for five borrowers.
International borrowers are also looking more closely at the Kangaroo market now that it has acquired execution and size certainty.
Westpac was the only Australian bank to be on the debut Kangaroos from Electricite de France, German energy firm E.ON and German real estate firm Vonovia.
Block noted increased demand for fixed-income products among Australia’s retiring Baby Boomer generation, and the resultant rise of the aggregator or middle markets investor class as high-net-worth individuals seek alternatives to high-yielding bank Additional Tier 1 notes, which are being phased out.
As far as offshore demand is concerned, politically stable Australia, one of only two southern hemisphere nations to hold Triple A status from Moody’s, S&P and Fitch, has long stood out as a safe port of call for Asia Pacific investors, with further impetus this year coming from de-dollarisation inflows.
Westpac also made its presence felt in New Zealand, where it was on all of 2025’s four sovereign trades. The highlights included Transpower NZ’s green and Auckland Council’s sustainability-linked bonds as well as Auckland Airport’s wholesale and retail issues.
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