KBC GROEP : Group : KBC places its 16.17% participation in Bank Zachodni WBK in the market
03/22/2013| 03:05am US/Eastern
This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States, Canada, Japan or Australia. Any securities referred to herein may not be offered or sold in the United States, Canada, Japan or Australia absent registration or an exemption from registration. No public offering of any securities referred to herein will be made in the United States, Canada, Japan or Australia.
Press Release
Outside trading hours - Regulated information*
Brussels, 22 March 2013
Today, KBC Bank NV successfully placed its 16.2% participation in Bank Zachodni WBK through a secondary offering. The bookbuilding process started on 18 March and was reserved for eligible institutional investors. The sale of KBC's 15 125 964 shares offered (constituting 16.17% of BZ WBK current shares outstanding) at the final offer price of 245 PLN per one offer share resulted in proceeds of 3.71 billion PLN (0,9 billion EUR) for KBC and strengthens its already solid solvency position with 0.6%. Consequently, our tier-1 capital ratio will amount to 14.7% on a pro forma basis.
For KBC, this sale is one of the last major milestones in implementing of the strategic plan agreed with the European Commission in 2009.
KBC and Santander, as selling shareholders, have granted a reverse greenshoe option of up to 10% of the final offering size for stabilisation purposes, with Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch appointed to act as the stabilising manager on behalf of the underwriters.
Following the closing of the offering, KBC and Santander will each be locked-up for a period of 90 days and BZ WBK will be locked-up for a period of 180 days, subject to certain exemptions, in particular as may be required by regulators or in commitments thereto.
This share transaction marks the closure of KBC's divestment of Kredyt Bank and the end of the group's banking presence in Poland. The divestment frees up 1.0 billion EUR worth of capital for KBC under Basel II, of which almost EUR 0.6 billion in the first quarter of 2013. The (pro-forma) total tier-1 impact of the divestment of Kredyt Bank (including the sale of this 16.2% participation) at KBC Group consolidated level stands at approximately +1.3%, of which almost +0.8% in the last quarter of 2012 and +0.6% in the first quarter of 2013.