By Cecile Lefort
SYDNEY, July 24 (Reuters) - Westpac Banking Corp WBC.AX is expected to announce on Monday an issue of perpetual hybrid securities worth around A$750 million ($547 million), two sources involved in the offer said, making it the first major Australian lender to raise buffer capital after stricter prudential rules were imposed.
A Westpac spokesperson declined to comment.
Regulators have given Australian banks have one year to raise around US$7 billion under new guidelines requiring banks to hold bigger cash buffers.
Earlier this week, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) lifted the mortgage risk weights of the country's top banks to put them in the top quartile of international lenders. ID:nL3N0ZZ0EV
The hybrid issue from Australia's No. 2 lender by market value is being marketed at a margin of around 400 basis points over the bank bill swap rate, the same sources said. One of them noted the maturity, or the first call date, was likely to be around five years.
The issue, to be counted as additional Tier 1 capital, will be led by Westpac with a large syndicate including UBS, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank, one source said.
Hybrid securities are a mix of debt and equity. They feature interest payments but can also be converted to shares.
The vast majority of bank hybrids on issue are held by individual investors who typically "buy and hold". Banks much prefer to tap this class of investor rather than fund managers, who typically ask for higher margins because of the added risk associated with complex securities.
Hybrids have fallen out of favour this year as a glut of supply resulted in issues trading below their initial price, driving up their yields.
Recent offers by rivals Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.AX and National Australia Bank NAB.AX were quoted between 390 and 398 basis points above the bank bill swap rate.
The new Westpac issue will test market appetite, with some sceptics citing more attractive opportunities elsewhere. They nominated Westpac's own ordinary shares, which pay a franked dividend of around 7.6 percent compared to the 6.1 percent expected from the new hybrid.
"It is a trade-off," said Campbell Dawson, a portfolio manager at Elstree Investment Management with A$180 million in fixed income and credit. "With hybrids, you are getting slightly lower returns but with much lower volatility."
He said individual investors are likely to be attracted to the anticipated margin of around 400 basis points, which would be the highest ever issued by an Australian major bank.
($1 = 1.3704 Australian dollars)