KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 19): National mortgage corporation Cagamas Bhd has issued its inaugural Australian dollar medium term note, amounting to AUD100 million.

The Australian issuance, which was done via its unit Cagamas Global P.L.C, has a maturity of one year.

It marks the company’s first foreign currency floating rate note (FRN) issued under Cagamas’ USD 2.5 billion Conventional Multicurrency Medium Term Note (EMTN) Programme, as well as the company’s second dual tranche reopening concluded this year.

In a statement, chief executive officer Datuk Chung Chee Leong said the company’s continued engagement had increased interest amongst Australian investors.

“The company’s continued engagement with investors has garnered interest from Australian Dollar investors, which led to the conclusion of this deal at a competitive pricing of 75 basis points over the corresponding benchmark 3-month Australian Bank Bill Swap Rate. The FRN also marks the first ever AUD deal from a Malaysian non-bank issuer,” Chung said.

The dual currency issuance brings the total foreign currency denominated bonds/sukuk issued for the year to MYR3.1 billion or 30%, with the remaining 70% or RM7.4 billion issued in the local currency market (MYR).

“This brings the aggregate year-to-date issuance of Cagamas to RM10.5 billion, which represents the most amount issued by the Company since 2013, for a single year,” the company said.