rams has refinanced, page-31

Like I said, they still had to dot their i's and cross their t's. My source had told me this was likely w/in 36 hours last night and RHG was prepared to do business at 52bp above BBSW - perhaps they were jumping the gun slightly. I still wouldn't be surprised to see it announced tomorrow.

As rogue said once the first tranch is got away then subsequent tranches at the same or lower prices will be easier to place. At the moment rams is working very hard to close an initial deal and is prepared to issue at a higher level (cf to mac banks' issue at 40bp for 500m last week) to start the ball rolling. They will recoup 30bp of this increased funding costs via increased mortgage rates that have already been passed on to new customers.

I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record but the real test for FY08 will be whether they reach loanbook growth targets in light of higher customer rates; margins will not be eroded much beyond the 25bp figure that rams is paying on its XCP which would maintain NPAT around 40m.