In a well-flagged move, Westpac has launched its latest capital raising - a Tier 1 hybrid offer to retail investors, seeking to raise A$750 million (although the bank has left itself room to go up or down in size). Westpac said the margin was "expected to be in the range of 4.90 per cent - 5.10 per cent" over the 90-day bank bill rate, short of the 5.2 per cent margin paid by CBA for a raising twice the size of this not all that much earlier in the year. This translates currently to an annual rate of around seven per cent  The term is given as "perpetual with the first possible Scheduled Conversion Date on 20 December 2023". There is no fixed maturity date, but the investor presentation notes show a scheduled exchange on 30 September 2055 The bank wrote to current holders that "all Westpac TPS will be redeemed on 30 June 2016". At the same time, Westpac is launching a new security, Westpac Capital Notes 4 (WCN4), and Eligible Westpac TPS Holders will be given the option to reinvest their redemption proceeds in WCN4. And Westpac has outlined that the benefit for itself will be that it has a new Basel III compliant security that will qualify as Additional Tier 1 Capital. An offer size of approximately A$750 million, with the ability to raise more or less, supports a capital management strategy of maintaining an appropriate mix of capital. S&P Global Ratings today said it has assigned its 'BBB-' issue credit rating to the proposed Westpac Capital Notes, putting the notes four notches below Westpac's.  "The starting point of [Westpac's stand-alone credit profile] reflects our view that it is unlikely that the Australian government's support for Westpac and other Australian banks--if needed - would extend to the hybrid capital instruments issued by the bank," S&P wrote in a note to clients. "Our assessment takes into consideration that the WCN4 notes will qualify as fully compliant Basel III Additional Tier 1 regulatory capital under Australian Prudential Regulation Authority standards. In addition, we note that the WCN4 notes are perpetual instruments with no fixed maturity date," S&P said.