1st Chicago NBD Plans $3B Offering

First Chicago NBD Corp. has filed a shelf registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell $3 billion worth of securities.

Proceeds from the sale will go to general corporate purposes, the banking company said in a press release, including "financing of investments in, and extensions of credit to, the company's subsidiaries."

Last month Verne G. Istock, the company's chairman and chief executive, said it is interested in acquiring another a bank.

But bank bond analyst Andrew Gilligan of Bear, Stearns & Co., New York, said it was unlikely the big midwestern superregional would be issuing debt to pay for an acquisition.

"Most acquisitions these days are stock swaps, and I think that's the route First Chicago would take," Mr. Gilligan said.

He observed that First Chicago has typically tapped the debt markets to finance its credit card operations.

But with loss rates rising in the past year, First Chicago has tapped those markets less often, because it had to pay higher yields.

The securities to be offered might include senior and subordinated debt, convertible debt, and warrants for common and preferred stock, the company said.

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