MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) Aug. 14, 2003--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has assigned its 'A-' long-term rating to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.'s (ANZ; AA-/Stable/A-1+) announced A$750 million (with the ability to accept oversubscriptions for up to A$250 million) stapled exchangeable preferred securities issue (StEPS). StEPS are Tier 1 qualifying stapled securities, consisting of a note issued by ANZ Holdings (New Zealand) Ltd. (paying a floating, noncumulative, preferred coupon), and a fully paid up preference share issued by ANZ. The preference share is not dividend paying until the occurrence of an assignment event, which results in the unstapling of the securities, and the assignment of the notes and all associated payment obligations to ANZ.
