Westpac Banking Corporation is quietly preparing to issue the first major hybrid securities raising of the year, and may do it as soon as next Monday (February 5), reports the AFR's Street Talk.  A syndicate of lead managers and brokers has been lined up to sell the offer to investors, Street Talk said, citing "sources" and surmising that the expected A$1 billion to $1.5 billion funds will likely replace the $1.1 billion Westpac Convertible Preference Shares, issued in 2012. Investors in these securities will likely be offered securities in the new deal, as part of an investor rollover offer. Last year, Westpac executed a US$1.25 billion hybrid into the US market, the second major bank deal of its kind since the global financial crisis, following ANZ's US dollar hybrid in 2016.Westpac's most recently issued hybrid securities, Westpac Capital Notes 4, issued in mid-2016, were trading at a gross margin of 2.81 per cent over the bank bill swap rate late last week, according to broker JBWere, with Westpac as the lead arranger.