Macquarie Bank is looking to raise $700 million through a capital raising to fund new investments.
The institutional private placement, by way of a bookbuild, will result in the issue of 10,606,061 additional ordinary shares at $66.00 per ordinary share.
The placement shares will rank pari passu with existing ordinary shares except that they will not participate in the 2006 final dividend to be paid on 5 July 2006.
The price reflects a 2.7% discount to the last close of $67.86 (adjusted for the fully franked final dividend of $1.25 per share).
Macquarie Bank’s chief financial officer Greg Ward said the capital raised would be used to facilitate the growth of the Bank’s international expansion opportunities including property, airports, utilities and toll roads.
Earlier this week, Macquarie Bank reported a net profit of $916 million for the full year to March 31, 2006 – an increase of 13% over the prior year.
By Nelson Yap
