HSBC raises $17.7b in massive rights offering

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank, raised about 12.4 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) as investors bought 97 percent of the $18.9 billion offer, the UK's largest.

HSBC offered the remaining shares to investors yesterday, the London-based lender said in a statement. HSBC sold the stock to shareholders for 254 pence each, 41 percent less than the close on April 3 in London.

The bank said on March 2 it would seek the money after its North American operation posted a 2007 pretax loss of $15.5 billion. While HSBC has set aside about $53 billion to cover bad loans during the past three years, it has avoided taking UK government funding, unlike rivals Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc.