DnB NOR to raise $2.4 billion in rights issue
Norway’s largest bank DnB NOR has announced a rights issue to strengthen its core capital.
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DnB NOR said Friday it will raise 14 billion kroner ($2.41 billion) in a guaranteed rights issue to strengthen its core capital.
The move makes the Norwegian bank, which has been heavely exposed to the Baltics and the shipping sector, the last major Nordic bank to raise new capital since the credit crunch began.
The rights issue is backed up by the bank's largest shareholders including the Norwegian government, which owns a 34 percent stake.
“I regard the issue as a healthy sign both for DnB NOR and the financial market,” Sylvia Brustad, Norway’s trade and industry minister, said in a statement, adding that the sale will increase the bank’s “financial robustness in a way that gives equal opportunity for all shareholders to participate.”
As a result of the issue, the bank won't apply for capital from the State Finance Fund.
“This transaction will enhance our ability to meet our customers’ future financing needs while making us better prepared to satisfy anticipated higher capital adequacy requirements in the banking sector,” Rune Bjerke, DnB’s Chief Executive Officer, said in today’s statement. “In addition, it will enable a swifter return to our long-term dividend policy.”
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Last Updated (Friday, 25 September 2009 13:12)
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