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Bank of Queensland (ASX: BOQ) entered into a trading halt yesterday with the bank announcing it was planning a capital raise to fund a potential acquisition.
As reported by the AFR, BOQ is looking to raise more than $1 billion to fund an all-cash acquisition of ME Bank.
In addition, the report claimed the purchase price of ME Bank would be $1.3 billion.
BOQ, one of Brisbane's Top 10 Companies, has requested the trading halt to last one week, but that period could be shorter depending on when the company announces the capital raise and proposed acquisition.
In FY20, a surge in loan impairment expenses and a previously announced restructure led to a 61 per cent slide in BOQ's net profit to $115 million.
However, despite the COVID-19 disruption, the banking group still managed to bolster its loan portfolio with revenue rising 1 per cent to $1.096 billion thanks in part to lending growth of $827 million.
Prior to the trading halt shares in BOQ fell by 2.77 per cent to $8.41 per share.
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