Rights issue to drive OCBC Bank's S$3.3 billion bid

This follows Wing Hang Bank acquisition.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC Bank) has announced a renounceable underwritten rights issue of up to 440,047,710 new shares to raise net proceeds of about S$3.3 billion, following the close of its Offer for Wing Hang Bank Limited (WHB) on 29 July 2014.

At the same time, OCBC Bank unveiled a new name and logo that will be effective from 1 October 2014 at all WHB touch points in Hong Kong and Macau.

The new name signifies a new beginning for WHB as a subsidiary of OCBC Bank. OCBC Bank thereby further entrenches its Greater China presence from which to execute its Greater China strategy for higher business growth.

Here’s more from OCBC Bank:

The renaming of WHB China will happen at a later stage with plans to be announced at an appropriate time.

The rights issue will be offered on the basis of one rights share for every eight existing shares held by entitled shareholders as at 5.00pm the books closure date, disregarding fractional entitlements.

At S$7.65 for each rights share, the issue price represents a discount of 25% to the closing price of $10.20 per share on 15 August 2014.

The Bank has secured an irrevocable undertaking from Selat (Pte) Limited to subscribe for and/or procure that various shareholders in the Lee Group Companies (including Singapore Investments (Pte) Limited, Lee Foundation and Lee Rubber Company (Pte) Limited) subscribe for their full entitlement, amounting to 117,299,418 rights shares or approximately 26.7% of the rights issue.

The remaining rights shares, representing approximately 73.3% of the rights issue, have been jointly underwritten by Merrill Lynch (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Singapore Branch; and J.P. Morgan (S.E.A) Limited.