MELBOURNE, Australia--National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB.AU) aims
to raise a hefty 5.5 billion Australian dollars (US$4.4 billion) to
shore up its capital reserves and move ahead with plans to spin off
and list its U.K. banking business.
The capital will be raised through a 2-for-25 accelerated rights
issue, the bank said Thursday. NAB also plans to release a further
A$500 million in capital by reducing the lender's exposure to
retail life insurance through a reinsurance arrangement.
Separately, NAB reported a 20% jump in first-half net profit to
A$3.44 billion in the six months through March, from A$2.86 billion
a year earlier. It also said Ken Henry had been appointed the
successor to Michael Chaney, who plans to retire as chairman at the
Melbourne-based bank's annual general meeting in December.
NAB, which is refocusing on its core Australian and New Zealand
franchises, said that while it remains open to a trade sale for its
U.K. banking operations, its plan is to spin off as much as 80% of
the business to shareholders and sell the remainder through an
initial public offering by the end of this year.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires