Suncorp sells $400m in pref shares

Suncorp yesterday said it will sell up to $400 million in convertible preference shares next month. The aim is to raise a minimum of $325 million in preference shares with the option to raise a further $75 million.

The bank lodged a prospectus for the share issue yesterday and will undertake a bookbuild to determine pricing on Tuesday next week.

This is the  finance and insurance group's second capital raising for the calendar year. Suncorp foreshadowed additional tier one capital raisings at the time of the release of its December 2007 half year profit, published at the end of February.

At the time Suncorp said for the first of those it would sell ordinary shares worth $315 million, equal to half the dividend payment announced in that profit.

At this stage Suncorp and its advisers expect the CPS to be sold at a margin of between 320 and 360 basis points over the 90 day bank bill swap rate.
Citi, JPMorgan, Macquarie and UBS are helping Suncorp sell the preference shares.