Westpac off-market share buy-back

Buy-Back completion

On 14 February 2022, Westpac successfully completed its A$3.5 billion Buy-Back. For further information refer to the ASX release here (PDF 115KB). 

Payments and Buy-Back statements

Payments for Shares bought back under the Buy-Back were completed on 18 February 2022 via direct credit and Buy-Back holding and payment statements were made available online or sent to shareholders from that date.

Outcomes of the Buy-Back

Outcomes for Westpac:
 

Outcomes for shareholder participants:
 

ATO Class Ruling

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Class Ruling confirmed that the Capital Component of the Buy-Back Price is A$11.34 and the fully franked Dividend Component of the Buy-Back Price is A$9.56.
 

For Australian tax purposes, the deemed capital proceeds for entities other than companies will generally be taken to be A$14.58 per Share, being the A$11.34 Capital Component, plus A$3.24 representing the excess of the Tax Value over the Buy-Back Price.

A copy of the ATO Class Ruling can be found here (PDF 147KB).
 

Further information on the tax outcomes of the Buy-Back for shareholder participants can be found in the Tax Guide here (PDF 100KB) including information on the Tax Value. The ATO accepted that the Tax Value should be calculated by reference to the movements in the S&P/ASX 200 Banks Index over the Buy-Back Period (rather than the S&P/ASX 200 Index).

Buy-Back background

On 1 November 2021, Westpac announced its intention to conduct an off-market share buy-back of up to A$3.5 billion of Westpac ordinary shares (Shares). See ASX announcement here (PDF 950KB).
 

The Buy-Back was open to eligible shareholders who were registered holders of Shares on the Buy-Back Record Date (8 November 2021), who had a registered address in Australia or New Zealand, and who were not an Excluded Foreign Person.
 

On 10 December 2021, following the fall in Westpac’s share price, Westpac amended certain key terms of the Buy-Back, including: the Discount range, changed to 0% to 10%, from 8% to 14%; and extended the closing date of the tender period to 11 February 2022. See ASX announcement here (PDF 126KB).
 

Details of the Buy-Back were in the original buy-back booklet dated 1 November 2021 (Original Booklet (PDF 849KB)) and supplementary booklet dated 10 December 2021 (Supplementary Booklet (PDF 563KB)), which were available to eligible shareholders online or on request.

Key dates