St.George Bank completes funding needs for FY08

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SYDNEY, June 18 (Reuters) - Australia's St. George Bank SGB.AX said on Wednesday it had completed its wholesale term funding for the current financial year and had made a start in raising money for 2008/09 as well.

The regional bank, which is subject to a A$19 billion ($17.9 billion) bid by bigger rival Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX), said it completed its A$8 billion funding requirement for the year to September with a eurobond issue on Tuesday.

It priced a new 900 million euro ($1.4 billion) benchmark issue of five-year fixed rate notes at 140 basis points over the five-year Euro mid swap rate.

St. George said the issue met extensive demand from over 80 investors throughout Europe, particularly the UK and Germany. Managed Funds, asset managers and central banks dominated the order book.

St. George said 13 percent of its committed term funding matured in the next six months. The weighted average maturity of its committed term funding is over two years.

The bank has also raised approximately A$1 billion of its estimated A$11 billion to A$12 billion term wholesale funding requirements for the 2009 financial year. ($1=.6449 Euro) ($1-A$1.06) (Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Jonathan Standing)