Wednesday 21 November 2012 by FIIG Research Company updates

Silver Chef awarded 'Deal of the Quarter'

The Silver Chef fixed rate notes brought exclusively to market by FIIG Securities for our clients in August this year have been awarded ‘Deal of the Quarter’ by KPMG’s Debt Advisory team in the accounting firms quarterly Debt Market Update. The FIIG/Silver Chef deal took out the title despite strong competition from a number of high profile corporate hybrids and a range of significantly larger senior issues undertaken during the quarter.

KPMG noted the Silver Chef issue:

“...met the true definition of a ‘deal’ in being a transaction that is mutually beneficial to both the issuer and the subscriber”

KPMG noted the issue offered investors a number of appealing aspects including direct access to a senior ranking debt placement (as opposed to junior ranking hybrid issues), a longer term investment horizon for a fixed rate return and a higher yield than is available through fixed income funds or the domestic bond market.

For the issuer, KPMG identified the fact that the deal provided an alternative to bank funding as a key plus for Silver Chef. The firm noted that FIIG’s senior unsecured product offered both diversity of funding source and the ability to extend tenor beyond the typical three year bank debt offered to companies in the small and midcap sectors.

The Silver Chef notes beat out a number of significantly larger and higher profile issues in the quarter including a $1bn domestic issue from BHP Billiton, the company’s first foray into the Australian market in more than a decade, and issues from Crown, Caltex and APA Group which issued in excess of $1.5bn (combined) in hybrid funding in the quarter.

We are obviously pleased to have been awarded ‘Deal of the Quarter’ by KPMG. We are even more pleased we were able to offer our clients a great outcome and FIIG will seek to continue to offer our clients exclusive access to similar deals in the future.