OCBC is preparing to launch roadshows for the first issue off its innovative preference share programme next week. With JPMorgan as lead manager, the deal will have a perpetual structure with call options after years five and ten, plus every coupon thereafter.
This mirrors a structure pioneered by a number of European banks last summer and because there are no step-up provisions, the deal will be classified as core capital rather than as a hybrid, which have would limited issuance to 15% of OCBC's CAR. At the end of 2002, OCBC announced its intention to up set a programme with five different classes of preference shares of up to S$1.25...
