ANZ jointly leads Australia’s largest social bond for housing at $315 million
ANZ today announced it jointly led the inaugural bond issue of $315 million for the Commonwealth’s National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), the largest social bond for housing in Australia to date.
NHFIC is an independent Commonwealth entity that operates the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator (AHBA) to provide cheaper and longer-term secured loan finance for community housing providers by issuing bonds in Australia’s debt capital markets.
Head of Sustainable Finance at ANZ, Katharine Tapley said: “NHFIC’s debut issuance in social bond format was very well received by investors, underpinning the strong demand for good quality credits with social benefits.”
ANZ is committed to improving the availability of suitable and affordable housing options for all Australians and New Zealanders, including the supply of homes to buy and rent, as well as access to safe accommodation.
Proceeds from the 10-year bond will be loaned to community housing providers including BlueCHP, CHL, Compass, Evolve, Hume and Unity to develop social and affordable housing in Australia. ANZ was joint lead manager with UBS for the fixed-rated bond which has provided very competitive funding for 10 years at an annual interest rate of less than 2.38%.
The bond issue marks a step towards ANZ’s target to fund and facilitate $1 billion in projects across the country and to deliver about 3,200 more affordable, secure and sustainable homes to buy and rent. This includes homes priced at a discount to market for people who otherwise are unable to afford stable, long term accommodation.
ANZ also has a three-year partnership valued at $150,000 with the Property Industry Foundation to contribute to the building of accommodation for homeless youth to support the delivery of new housing supply to the market.