DBS 4.70% preference shares offer more than 3.5 times subscribed

Offer attracts total applications amounting to more than S$1.8bln behind strong retail demand.

DBS Bank announced on Thursday that its offer of S$500 million in aggregate liquidation preference of 4.70% non-cumulative, non-convertible and non-voting preference shares has closed. The offer attracted strong interest and was more than 3.5 times subscribed.

As at the close of the offer at noon Thursday, total applications amounting to more than S$1.8 billion had been received. Of this, retail subscriptions via ATMs and Internet banking alone amounted to more than S$1.4 billion, while the placement and reserve tranches meant for institutional investors and employees of DBS saw total demand of more than S$400 million, according to a DBS report.

To accommodate the strong retail demand from the Singapore public, the bank exercised its upsize option in full, to increase the total size of the preference share offer from S$500 million to S$800 million. DBS has allocated the bulk of this, or S$550 million, to meet retail demand. The remaining S$250 million has been allocated to the placement and reserve tranches.

Chng Sok Hui, Chief Financial Officer of DBS Bank, said: “DBS launched this S$500 million preference share issue to cater to demand from individual investors, and we are very heartened by the strong retail interest, which led us to upsize the issue. We are grateful for investors' confidence in DBS, and thank them for their strong support. The Singapore market has grown in maturity over the years, and the success of our retail issue underscores the deepening of yet another frontier of the market. As a market leader in SGD securities, DBS is committed to working with regulators, the stock exchange and potential issuers to further develop and deepen the product offerings available to retail investors in both fixed income as well as equity securities.”

The DBS preference shares are expected to be listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange (“SGX-ST”) with effect from 23 November 2010. Dealing in and quotation of the preference shares on the SGX-ST will be in Singapore dollars. The preference shares will be traded in board lot sizes of 100 preference shares on the SGX-ST.

The in-principle approval by the SGX-ST for the listing of and quotation for the preference shares is not to be taken as indication of the merits of DBS Bank and its subsidiaries, DBS Group Holdings Ltd, the preference shares or the offer.

In October, DBS launched an institutional benchmark offering of preference shares, which also saw overwhelming demand of more than SGD 2.5 billion and led to the successful pricing of a S$1.7 billion transaction.