Macquarie Prices $A500 million PUMA Masterfund P-13 RMBS transaction

20 September 2007

Macquarie Securitisation Limited, the manager of the PUMA residential mortgage backed securitisation program, today announced that it has priced the $A500 million PUMA Masterfund P-13 bond issue. The issue is the first Australian RMBS transaction to be successfully priced since late July.

The Class A senior notes, to be rated AAA by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Group and Aaa by Moody’s Investors Service, with a face value of $A485 million and a weighted average life of approximately 2.8 years, were priced at a margin of 0.40 per cent (40 basis points) over 1-month BBSW. The Class B subordinated notes, to be rated AA by Standard & Poor’s and Aa2 by Moody’s, with a face value of $A15 million, representing 3.0 per cent subordination, and a weighted average life of approximately 5.5 years will carry a margin of 0.82 per cent (82 basis points) over 1-month BBSW. Société Générale, Deutsche Bank and Macquarie Bank were the joint lead managers and book runners for the issue. The issue will settle on 27 September, 2007.

Macquarie Bank Group Head of Banking and Securitisation Mr Tony Gill, said: "We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this transaction. This PUMA bond issue demonstrates that there continues to be demand from investors for Australian residential mortgage backed securities from quality issuers with strong servicing and arrears performance. Macquarie Securitisation has been a long-term participant in global mortgage backed securities markets and we remain committed to offering investors the ability to invest in high quality Australian mortgages into the future. We expect this will inspire other issuers to follow our lead and provide further momentum to the market."

Mr Gill said: "The P-13 bond issue is collateralised by a pool of mortgage loans with a weighted average current loan to value ratio of 67 per cent and a weighted average seasoning of 20 months. The maximum loan to value ratio of loans in the pool is 90 per cent. The pool consists entirely of verified income (or "full doc") loans. All of our loans are to prime borrowers and have the benefit of mortgage insurance covering 100% of principal and interest on the loans, provided by either Genworth Financial Mortgage Insurance or PMI Mortgage Insurance.

Société Générale’s Deputy Head of Securitisation Sophie Gilder said "The PUMA Masterfund P-13 was an important strategic transaction, the first to reopen the primary Australian RMBS market following the liquidity crisis. In challenging market conditions, investors demanded a respected issuer, high quality pool and 100% full doc loans, and P-13 delivered that." Ms Gilder added that "Interest came from a broad number of Australian and Asian accounts, with spread levels in line with the global repricing of credit attracting investors back into the market."

Deutsche Bank’s Head of Securitised Product’s Mr. Glenn McDowell commented: "This transaction shows that for quality issuers with quality collateral the market remains open, although the transactions will be for smaller sizes than in the past."

Mr. Kevin Lee, of Macquarie’s Debt Markets Division, said in relation to the transaction, "It is encouraging to see Macquarie’s PUMA Program successfully complete a trade amidst the continuing market volatility. This will give some direction to the market in these uncertain times."

As manager of the PUMA Programme, Macquarie Securitisation Limited is a leading Australian issuer of residential mortgage-backed securities. It has raised a total of $A36.9 billion in 38 separate issues since 1993, involving 27 public issues in Australia, five public issues in the European markets and six global issues.

For further information, please contact

Paula Hannaford
Public Relations
Macquarie Bank
Tel: (61 2) 8232 4102
Mobile: (+61 4) 1394 0180
Email: paula.hannaford@macquarie.com

Kevin Lee
Division Director
Debt Finance
Tel: 61 2 8232 8577
Mobile: 61 404 857 206