Suncorp Bank has announced an offer to purchase all of the Unsecured Perpetual Floating Rate Subordinated Notes through an off-market buyback. Suncorp Bank is offering a fixed price of $80 per Note which it says “represents a 10 per cent premium to the SBKHB trading price on Friday 2 May 2014 and a 10 per cent premium to the one month Volume Weighted Average Price”. The notes were issued at $100.
Suncorp group chairman, Ziggy Switkowski, said the buyback formed part of Suncorp’s ongoing capital management programme. “These Notes were issued at $100 in 1998 in a different financial and regulatory environment and with a margin that reflected the financial markets at that time,” he said. “Since the issue of the Notes, there have been significant changes in economic conditions which have resulted in the value of the Notes, along with other similar instruments, being depressed for some time.”
Suncorp is potraying the buyback as an opportunity for Eligible Noteholders to sell their Notes at a premium to recent trading prices. Participation in the Buy-back Offer is voluntary. Notes that are not bought back through the buyback will remain on issue on their current terms and listed on the ASX.