Great Western Bancorp Files for Secondary Offering

By Chris Lange Published Jul 17, 9:20AM EDT

Great Western Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: GWB) has filed an S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a secondary offering. No terms were given in the filing. The underwriters for the offering are Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan.

Great Western Bancorp is a full-service regional bank holding company focused on relationship-based business and agribusiness banking. It serves its customers through 158 branches in seven states: South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, Kansas and Missouri.

Over 70 years ago, this bank was established, and it has achieved strong market positions by developing and maintaining extensive local relationships in its communities. By leveraging its business and agribusiness focus, presence in markets, efficient operating model and robust approach to risk management, Great Western Bancorp has achieved significant and profitable growth, both organically and through disciplined acquisitions. The company has successfully completed eight acquisitions since 2006, including its 2010 Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) assisted acquisition of TierOne Bank, which represented approximately $2.5 billion in acquired assets.

The bank described its finances in the filing as:

Our net income was $46.4 million for the six months ended March 31, 2015 and $105.0 million for the twelve months ended September 30, 2014, representing a compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, of 18% from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2014 and a 9% increase from fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2014. Our total assets were $9.78 billion at March 31, 2015, and, on an annualized basis, our net charge-offs for the six months ended March 31, 2015 represented 0.23% of our average total loans… For fiscal year 2014, we achieved a return on average total assets of 1.14% and a return on average tangible common equity of 16.6%.

The company will not receive any proceeds from this offering. In fact all proceeds will go to the selling shareholders, a subsidiary of National Australia Bank Ltd. (NAB). After the offering, NAB expects that all of its shares would be fully divested, if the offering and overallotment option are fully exercised.

Shares of Great Western Bancorp closed Thursday up 2.5%, at $24.77 in a 52-week trading range of $17.40 to $25.54. The stock has a consensus estimate of $27.56.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.