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National Australia Bank (NAB) is cashing up again in the wake of its acquisition of the Aviva Wealth Management business, announcing today that it would be raising a further $2 billion via a fully underwritten institutional placement.
News of the capital raising came at the same time as the big banking group provided a June quarter trading update in which it said that its wealth management business had shown a slight increase in gross income relative to the first half.
It said a combination of positive market returns and positive net flows had increased funds under management to $75 billion at June 30, up from $70 billion at March 31.
However, dealing with the reasons for the capital raising, NAB chief executive Cameron Clyne pointed to the opportunities the banking group saw in small to medium-sized business (SME) and institutional sectors.
“This capital raising not only ensures we maintain a strong balance sheet position, but also provides us with the flexibility to support our existing customers, accelerate initiatives to enhance our SME market position and pursue additional organic and strategically aligned inorganic opportunities,” he said.
“For example, earlier in the year we announced our intention to hire between 150 and 200 additional business bankers to take advantage of opportunities to grow our share of high quality SME relationships that offer long-term multi-product potential,” Clyne said.
