Auckland City Council Open Retail Bond Offer

Auckland City Council today opened its second retail bond offer, with a 6.25% p.a. minimum interest rate.

The offer is for five year, fixed rate secured bonds and closes on 19 March.

Auckland City Council is seeking to raise up to NZ$350 million through the issue.

The minimum investment level is NZ$5,000, with multiples of NZ$1,000 thereafter.

The bonds, which will be issued for a term of five years (maturing in March 2015), carry a credit rating of AA- from Standard & Poor’s.

A pool of NZ$30 million has been reserved for ratepayers or residents of the Auckland region. This reserved pool comprises 8.6 per cent of the maximum Issue Amount.

The interest rate will be finalised on 22 March 2010 and will be the higher of 6.25% or the aggregate of the applicable five year swap rate plus a margin of 1.11% on that date.

Investors wishing to obtain an Investment Statement for this offer can contact one of the Lead Managers:

o BNZ on 0800 722 723
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o Westpac Institutional Bank on 0800 489 222
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o First NZ Capital Securities Limited on 0800 005 678
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o Goldman Sachs JBWere (NZ) Limited on 0800 555 555
o

They can also contact their NZX broker firm or Auckland City Council on 09 379 2020.

The bonds are secured by a charge over the rates and rates revenue of Auckland City Council. The security is first ranking except to the extent that other security is preferred by law (including security interests that may have priority ranking under the Personal Property Securities Act). The bonds will rank equally with all other secured indebtedness of Auckland City Council.

Application has been made to NZX for permission to list the bonds on the NZDX. However, the bonds have not yet been approved for trading and NZX accepts no responsibility for any statement in this announcement. NZX is a registered exchange under the Securities Markets Act 1988.

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