Macquarie Group said yesterday that it had sold US$250 million hybrid securities, half the level the bank aimed to sell when it announced the issue more than two weeks ago.The group sold the securities through the London branch of its subsidiary, Macquarie Bank. The securities - labelled exchangeable capital securities - are unsecured, subordinated notes. They will pay an interest rate of 10.25 per cent and be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.  Macquarie said that it expects the securities to qualify as tier-one capital under the Basel III rules. It said the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority had so far only confirmed that the securities will qualify as capital under the transitional provisions.One other piece of capital management news released by the bank yesterday was that the perpetual "income securities" issued by the bank in 1999 were also likely to be eligible for transitional relief, a shift from the bank's (and APRA's) prior view.Macquarie said in November that it wanted to buy back up to 10 per cent of its shares, worth around A$1 billion based on its current share price. The group argued at the time that it had a capital surplus of at least A$3 billion.