(20 April 2005 – New Zealand) Commonwealth Bank’s wholly owned subsidiary CBA Capital Australia Ltd is looking to raise A$350 million through a public shares issue in New Zealand.The bank said the new Redeemable Preference Shares (RPS) offer, which opened earlier this week, equals the largest hybrid equity issue in New Zealand so far. It is also the first time CBA has gone to the New Zealand market to raise capital.
The bank tested public interest through a four week campaign and found a high level of interest despite the many other new issues coming on the market.
The issue, rated A+ by Standard & Poor’s, will pay a dividend rate of 7.71 percent per annum, paid quarterly, and will be reset annually. The RPS has a maturity date of 15 April 2015.
CBA owned ASB Bank and Deutsche Bank are the joint lead managers for the offer with ASB Securities acting as the organising participant.