Westpac to raise A$3.5B in discounted rights offer, reports 3% gain in cash earnings

Westpac to raise A$3.5B in discounted rights offer, reports 3% gain in cash earnings
Jonathan Underhill
By Jonathan Underhill Oct. 14 (BusinessDesk) - Westpac Banking Corp, Australia's second-largest lender, plans to raise A$3.5 billion in a discounted rights offer to meet new capital requirements and posted a 3 percent increase in full-year cash earnings driven by lending growth. The one-for-23 offer of about 138.4 million shares at A$25.50 apiece would lift Westpac's common equity Tier-1 ratio by about 100 basis points to more than 14 percent, which the lender said would put it in the top quartile of banks globally. The shares traded at A...