St George Bank, currently the subject of a merger bid by Westpac, announced today that it has completed 100 per cent of its financial year 2008 term wholesale funding requirements as well as raising around $1 billion of its estimated $11 billion to $12 billion term wholesale funding requirements for 2009.
St George chief financial officer Michael Cameron said the completion of the wholesale funding requirements had been achieved well ahead of schedule, allowing for an early start on funding for 2009.
The bank announced that overnight in London it had priced a new $1.48 billion benchmark issue of fixed rate notes with a term of five years, which will settle on June 24 and mature in 2013.
It said JPMorgan and UBS Investment Bank had acted as joint lead managers and book-runners for the transaction.
The bank said the issue had met extensive demand from over 80 investors throughout Europe, particularly the UK and Germany, with managed funds, asset managers and central banks dominating the order book.