Bluestone successfully prices $1bn RMBS transaction

The pool of this residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) transaction, named Bluestone Prime 2022-1, consists completely of prime full-documentation loans, with one-fifth originating from Athena Home Loans. 

The deal is said to be Bluestone Home Loans’ (Bluestone) second prime issuance in the Australian market. 

Bluestone treasurer Milos Ilic-Miloradovic commented that the transaction increased from its initial target of $500 million to $1 billion. 

He said that this accomplishment “reflects the credit quality of the underlying pool and standing of the Bluestone programme”. 

“Interest was truly international with investment from a range of domestic and offshore investors,” Mr Ilic-Miloradovic said.  

Bluestone chief executive Campbell Smyth added that this transaction “confirms Bluestone as a leading originator of prime, near prime and specialist loans”. 

“Bluestone has proven it has a range of loans to meet a wide variety of customer needs and the institutional investor support to fund them,” Mr Smyth said. 

“With the success of our drive into prime we are now focussed on ensuring brokers are also aware of the benefits of our near prime and specialist offerings and how we can work with brokers to help even more customers.” 

This transaction follows a series of moves made by the non-bank lender to expand its leadership and broker presence. 

In March, Bluestone announced it had appointed two new business development managers to cover NSW and Western Australia respectively, alongside a new business success manager. 

Bluestone’s chief customer officer James Angus commented at the time that, over the preceding six months, the lender’s BDM team grew by “almost 30 per cent” while also expanding its BSM team to three. 

That same month, Bluestone confirmed it had named a new head of specialist distribution, said to be responsible for the development and distribution of specialised lending products, including the non-bank’s upcoming self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) loan product. 

This itself came after the non-bank revealed in February that it was set to launch SMSF and construction loans. 

“The SMSF market is growing, at the same time as banks are withdrawing from the market. Here at Bluestone, we see a huge opportunity to support this underserved segment,” Mr Angus said in March. 

“Brokers are currently writing $2 billion a year in residential-backed SMSF loans and we think we can win 10 per cent of that business very quickly.”

[Related: Bluestone issues $700m prime RMBS]