WestLB Increases Benchmark Bond
WestLB today increased the volume of its senior unsecured bond in the benchmark range from € 750 million to € 1 billion. The price was fixed at mid swaps + 115 basis points, i. e. 15 basis points below the original benchmark issue. The members of the consortium included Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, LBBW and WestLB.
Klemens Breuer, Managing Board member with responsibility for the Capital Markets business, said: “Following the August launch of the first senior unsecured issue by the Bank in the benchmark format since July 2005, this increase only one month later is further evidence of our international placing power.”
To date WestLB has issued a total of € 16 billion in bearer bonds and promissory note loans with maturities of more than one year. As a result the Bank has improved the maturity profile of its funding. “The renewed confidence shown by investors in WestLB reaffirms our intention to continue the forward-looking and conservative funding strategy which we have embarked on,” Breuer added. Including the increase in the benchmark bond now announced and the Pfandbriefe issued, the Bank has issued a total of € 22 billion this year. Going forward the long-term provision of liquidity at attractive conditions will remain a cornerstone of WestLB´s funding policy.