Principality presented to more than 20 potential investors in London and Edinburgh and was three-and-a-half times oversubscribed for the 10 year subordinated debt issue, with almost 100% of the investors met participating.
The issue, which can be called after five years, returns a rate of 5.375% fixed for five years – 0.9% over Gilts. The deal is due to complete tomorrow (on Thursday 8 June 2006).
This is the second time that Principality has accessed the capital markets following the very successful £60 million Permanent Interest Baring Shares (PIBS) issue in June 2004.
Guy Thomas, finance director at Principality, said: “We are delighted with the keen response to this issue which shows the Principality brand is known and respected by the investment community. The deal has extended our footprint in the capital markets - a total of 24 investors participated in the transaction, of whom 20 were new to Principality.
“In the face of our solid retail inflows, strong asset growth and the positive tone of the UK housing market, we are keen to maintain our robust solvency ratios. This additional capital enables us to become an even stronger Welsh mutual organisation and will fund our residential, commercial and secured lending businesses.”
The issue was led jointly by Barclays Capital and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Daniel Fairclough, associate director at Barclays Capital added: “The transaction was a huge success with the deal being covered within an hour of the books opening to investors. The total order book reached over £400m, a strong response considering the size of the transaction, allowing the issue to be priced at the upper end of the price guidance.”
“The building society’s credit story was well received by the London and Edinburgh based investors – reflecting Principality’s strong Welsh franchise and robust 2005 performance.”
