Westpac poised to launch $750mn hybrid capital raising
Westpac is to become the third of the major Australian banks to raise hybrid capital this year with a AUD 750mn ($555mn) offer to be launched next week, due to pressure from the country's regulator to raise capital. This follows deals from National Australia Bank and ANZ which raised AUD 1.4bn ($1.04bn) and AUD 70mn ($72mn) respectively of Tier 1 capital through ASX listings.
Westpac Banking Corporation is set to become the third major Australian bank to raise hybrid capital this year with a $750 million offer to be launched early next week.

As revealed by Street Talk Online, the ASX-listed offer will raise around $750 million and be marketed at a margin of less than 400 basis points over the bank bill swap rate. Sources said Westpac was likely to launch the deal on Monday.

Advisers on the hybrid raising are understood to include UBS, JPMorgan, Morgans, Ord Minnett, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ANZ Banking Corp and National Australia Bank.

The raising follows deals from ANZ Banking Group and National Australia Bank which raised $970 million and $1.4 billion of Tier I capital through ASX listings. Jim Rice

The raising follows deals from ANZ Banking Group and National Australia Bank which raised $970 million and $1.4 billion of Tier I capital through ASX listings. Those transactions were priced at margins of 360 basis points and 350 basis points over the bank rate.

The Westpac hybrid issue would take the total amount of hybrids and capital notes raised so far this year to $4 billion following the two big bank deals, a $630 million raising from Crown and two smaller raisings from Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and Bank of Queensland.