Allens advises Bendigo and Adelaide Bank on offer of Convertible Preference Shares 3

Allens has advised Bendigo and Adelaide Bank on its A$225 million of Convertible Preference Shares 3 (CPS3), following the issue of similar convertible preference shares (CPS2) in late 2014.

As with CPS2, CPS3 will qualify as additional Tier 1 Capital for the Bank. The offer will run in connection with the redemption of Bendigo Preference Shares (BPS).

The CPS3 offer includes an Institutional Offer, a Broker Firm Offer, a Reinvestment Offer for the BPS shareholders, a Securityholder Offer and a General Offer. The offer opened on Tuesday, 5 May 2015, and CPS3 are expected to be issued on Monday, 15 June 2015.

The transaction is predicted to further strengthen Bendigo and Adelaide Bank's Tier 1 Capital ratio and support the Bank's ongoing balance sheet growth. The early completion of the bookbuild indicated a strong level of demand for the offer.

As it did for the CPS2 offer, Allens provided both the legal and taxation advice for the Bank, and was involved in obtaining APRA approval, and the ASIC and ASX relief required for the offer to proceed. The corporate team was led by Partners Robert Pick and Julian Donnan, the Co-Heads of the Allens Capital Markets team. The tax team was led by Partner Martin Fry.

Mr Pick said: 'Allens has greatly enjoyed the opportunity to partner with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank for the second time over recent months to support the Bank's capital management initiatives. The transaction continues the long standing partnership between Allens and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, and we are very pleased to work with the Bank's management team.'

Mr Donnan said: 'It's pleasing to see the support shown for CPS3 by investors under the bookbuild. As with CPS2, this has allowed the Bank to not only increase the offer size, but to set the margin at the bottom of the indicative range.'

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