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Swedish banking group Swedbank to issue new share offer

Business Materials 27 October 2008 11:43 (UTC +04:00)

Swedish banking group Swedbank on Monday said it planned to raise 12.4 billion kronor (1.51 billion dollars) by issuing new shares.

Swedbank is one of Sweden's four major banking groups. In recent weeks, Swedbank has been in the sights of analysts over its presence in the Baltic region where economic growth has slowed to standstill and fears of loan losses have increased, reported dpa.

According to the bank, existing shareholders including insurance and savings group Folksam, savings bank foundations, over 60 savings banks, as well as the Swedish national pension funds AP1 and AP2 had underwritten 100 per cent of the issue.

The new issue was pending approval at an extraordinary general meeting due November 25.

"Swedbank is a profitable bank with sound capitalisation, however, we believe it is in the best interest of all stakeholders to take proactive and decisive action in this volatile and uncertain market environment," board chairman Carl Eric Stalberg said in a statement.

Last week, Swedbank shares dipped when chief executive Jan Liden told reporters in connection with the bank's third-quarter presentation that the bank's owners were discussing a capital injection.

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