ABN and Grosvenor in first Australian property swap

Grosvenor Group, an international property company, and Dutch bank ABN Amro, announced on May 21 that they have agreed the first Australian property derivatives transaction.

The two-year swap contract is based on the Australian Property Council/Investment Property Databank Australian property all-property total return index. The pricing of the transaction remains confidential, but its notional value has been confirmed to be less than A$10 million ($8.2 million).

"The Australian market is at a similar stage to that of the UK 18 months ago, and we are hoping to see it grow along UK growth lines," said Philip Ljubic of ABN Amro, who expects a few more transactions to complete this year. He adds that the transaction "is part of an educational process", designed to whet the appetites of investors for an Australian property derivatives market.

The transaction is subject to IPD granting a licence to trade derivatives based on the Australian indexes by the end of the swap's tenor. Ljubic expects that ABN will receive its licence within the next six months.