27 August 2012 7:01am

Offshore and structured issuance provided the highlights in the debt capital markets last week.

Commonwealth Bank (rated AA-) and Westpac (also rated AA-) were big issuers in the Euromarket and at almost opposite ends of the risk spectrum.

CBA sold £750 million of covered bonds against an order book of twice that size. There has been little sterling-denominated covered bond issuance this year from any source and this has led to significant spread contraction in that market.

CBA priced the 14-year covered bonds at a very tight at 118 basis points over gilts. This level...