Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

Commonwealth
shares offer
a success: Willis
SYDNEY: The Common
wealth Bank's secondary share
offer pricc was announced yes
terday as $9.60 a share after
strong interest from foreign in
vestors boosted the Federal
Government's share sale.
The Finance Minister, Ralph
Willis, announced in Sydney
that the discount offer price was
$9.35 a share - an immediate
75c a share benefit to existing
shareholders who took up the
offer, gi ven that the current mar
ket price of Commonwealth
Bank shares stands at $10.10.
Retail investors receive a 25
per cent discount on the first
$25,000 worth of shares sought.
In addition, the shares were
offered free of stamp duty.
Existing bank shareholders
have been guaranteed a mini
mum of $3000 worth of shares.
Mr Willis said the secondary
sale had been a tremendous suc
cess and had boosted the Gov
ernment's hopes of such share
bidding sales in the future.
The sale would recoup $1.69
billion for the Government,
nearly $170 million more than
the Budget forecast.
Mr Willis said the extra reve
nue would be used to help re
duce the deficit and offset losses
incurred in the defeat of recent
Budget measures.
The Government announced
the secondary sale as it moved to
reduce its shareholding in the
bank from 70 to 50.1 per cent.
It now means the Common
wealth Bank has the largest
number of shareholders for any.
business in Australia, with
287,500 shareholders.
Mr Willis said there were
100,000 new shareholders in the
bank after the sale.
More than 191,000 applica
tions were received from retail
investors, representing $1.1 bil
lion in shares.
Under the sale arrangements,
small investors were alloted .65
per cent of the 178.5 million
shares on offer.
Mr Willis said 20 per cent of
the shares were taken up by for
eign investors, the largest inter
est coming from the United
States.
"Overall, this has been quite a
tremendous outcome," Mr Wil
lis told a news conference at Syd:
ney's Ramada Renaissance hor
tel.
"It was also pleasing that the
average application in the retail
offer was $5735, that is 99.5.per
cent of all retail applications
were below $25,000, and quali
fied therefore for the 25c dis»
count.
"This demonstrates clearly
the level of support the offer has
received from small investors.
"Now thev Government can
clearly look back on the process
with a great deal of satisfaction.
"No-one has ever tried to" ar
range a secondary share offer of
this size while also contending
with a live market in the shares."
He said it was a unique sale
for Australia.
$