Christopher Menkin's  Instablog

Banks Continue to Raise Capital

Senior debt remained the instrument of choice for capital raising efforts among banks and thrifts in the U.S. in 2012, according to SNL Financial. Nearly $15.65 billion of senior debt was issued as of April 13 representing 67.49% of overall issuances in the industry. Almost all were in the top five banks.

Bank of America Corp. continued its trend of making small senior debt issuances in 2012 with two offerings April 12 of variable rate series L callable capped unsecured notes. BofA issued an aggregate $12 million of senior debt in these most recent offerings. HSBC USA Inc. on April 2 added to its tally of raises with a roughly $3.4 million senior debt offering.

Atlanta-based Capitol City Bancshares Inc. on April 12 completed a $955,000 private placement of 382,000 common shares at a per-share price of $2.50. The company announced an additional offering of 618,000 shares at $2.50 each, which remains pending. The slightly more than $4.50 billion of total common equity raises represents 19.42% of aggregate issuances in the industry as of April 13.

"Common Equity" was the second most popular, followed by "Preferred Equity" then "Subordinated debt."

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.