Goldman Sells First Kangaroo Bonds in 5 Years: Australia Credit

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is returning to Australia’s bond market for the first time since 2006 to take advantage of relative yields on financial debt hovering at about the lowest level in three years.

The fifth-largest U.S. bank by assets sold A$1.25 billion ($1.34 billion) of 5 1/2-year notes yesterday, including A$500 million of floating-rate bonds priced to yield 205 basis points more than the bank bill swap rate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The extra yield investors demand to own Australian dollar bank bonds instead of government debt has shrunk 37 basis points this year to 157, compared with a drop of 31 on U.S. financial securities to 175, Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes show.