PUBLIC Bank Bhd, which has firmly etched itself in the banking sector as the most prudent financial institution in the country, surprised the market when it proposed a RM5bil rights issue.
It is the bank’s first cash call in 17 years and the largest by a local financial institution in recent years.
Adding spice to the fund-raising exercise is the fact that Public Bank’s founder and chairman, Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow, who owns 24.08% of the bank, has undertaken to subscribe his entitlement in full. This would mean that the 84-year-old Teh will be pumping in approximately RM1.2bil of his money for the exercise.
