OCBC to rename Wing Hang and raise S$3.37 billion in equity capital

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation said on Monday it will rebrand Wing Hang Bank as OCBC Wing Hang, complete with a new logo effective on October 1, after the Singaporean bank completed an acquisition of the formerly family-owned Hong Kong bank in late July.

OCBC also said it would issue S$3.37 billion (HK$20.99 billion) worth of shares to existing shareholders.

The bank’s new logo, which incorporates OCBC’s Chinese sailing vessel, will be used at all branches, ATMs in Hong Kong and Macau, as well as on its digital platform, starting in October, the bank said. The Wing Hang brand will remain intact at mainland branches until a later date.

OCBC’s plan for raising capital, Asia’s fourth-biggest equity capital raising this year, will lift the bank’s capital comfortably above Basel III levels due to come into effect in 2019, but OCBC will still lag domestic rivals. It said it will sell 440 million shares at S$7.65 a share, a 25 per cent discount to its share price of S$10.20 on Friday. It will offer one rights share for every eight existing ordinary shares held.

OCBC completed a takeover of the family-owned Wing Hang Bank on July 30, the deadline for the closing of the HK$125-per-share deal. OCBC secured 97.52 per cent of Wing Hang, enough to take the bank private. The city’s regulations require at least 90 per cent ownership to delist.

OCBC slowly edged up its stake in its target in July. It held 56.9 per cent on July 17, up 6.5 percentage points since July 4. The offer for the bank was launched in April.