The Melbourne-based bank said in a statement it offered 150 million shares for AU$20 each, a nearly 10 per cent discount to NAB's closing share price on Friday. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY - NATIONAL Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB), the country's largest lender by assets, said on Monday it raised AU$3 billion (S$3.06 billion) by selling shares to institutional investors in a bid to strengthen its balance sheet.
The Melbourne-based bank said in a statement it offered 150 million shares for AU$20 each, a nearly 10 per cent discount to NAB's closing share price on Friday.
The share issue's initial size of AU$2 billion was significantly oversubscribed by institutional investors, prompting the bank to increase the offer.
The new shares will not be entitled to the bank's final dividend for the fiscal year ended Sept, 2008.
NAB said the success of the share sale - which was underwritten by Goldman Sachs JBWere, Merrill Lynch and UBS AG - reflected its strong capital base compared with domestic and international peers.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's upgraded its credit outlook on NAB from negative to stable.
'The outlook revision reflects our view that the risk of a ratings downgrade on NAB in the medium term has been lessened by the bank's ordinary-equity capital raising of more than AU$2 billion,' S&P credit analyst Sharad Jain said. -- AP
