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Wells Fargo raises $7.5 billion in stock offering
Staff and wire reports
Posted: 05/08/2009 09:22:49 AM PDT
Updated: 05/08/2009 09:22:49 AM PDT

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co., the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, raised $7.5 billion by selling shares at $22 each after the government found the bank didn't have enough capital to withstand a more prolonged recession.

Wells Fargo was told to raise an additional $13.7 billion after the U.S. government's stress tests on 19 banks, and the company said yesterday it planned to raise $6 billion by selling common stock. The San Francisco-based lender said in a statement today it is selling 341 million shares at $22 apiece, a 12 percent discount to Thursday's closing price of $24.76.

"The demand obviously turned out to be very significant, which is obviously very pleasing and exceptional," Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins said in an interview today. "We generate a lot of capital internally, mostly through retained earnings, and we expect the natural course of business to get us" the rest.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_12326191