By Robb M. Stewart
MELBOURNE, Australia--National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB.AU) has
forecast a loss on the sale of regional U.S. lender Great Western
Bancorp Inc. (GWB), although the exit will bolster its capital
levels.
The Australian bank said it had now separated from Great Western
after selling its remaining 28.5% stake in a secondary offering.
Overall, the sale will net NAB about 1.46 billion Australian
dollars (US$1.07 billion), which it said represents a loss against
the U.S. bank's book value of A$396 million.
NAB has already recognized A$329 million of that loss following
last year's initial public offering and the sale of another bundle
of shares earlier this year, but said it will book another A$67
million loss outside of cash earnings in its accounts for the
financial year through September.
The exit is expected to increase NAB's common equity tier 1
capital ratio by about 0.34 percentage point, it said.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
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