CEO says B&B didn't want rights issue in March maelstrom

LONDON (Reuters) - Mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley (BB.L: Quote, Profile, Research) waited until markets stabilised before deciding to issue shares to shore up its balance sheet, its CEO said on Wednesday, despite stating a month ago it was not planning one.

The specialist buy-to-let lender unveiled a 300 million pounds rights issue on Wednesday, sending its shares down 6 percent.

"Stability in the markets is the moment we feel it is right to launch a rights issue, not in the middle of a maelstrom," said Chief Executive Steven Crawshaw in response to a question about why B&B did not issue new shares in April, following March's market turbulence.

"That's the difference that a month makes -- it's the fact we have been able to see a much more stable period across the globe, and it's into those stable periods that a rights issue should be launched," he told journalists on Wednesday's conference call.

B&B "left the door ajar" to a possible rights issue in April, Crawshaw said, despite a clear statement on April 13 that it was not planning a rights issue.

"The (April 13) statement was designed to be very clear and allow the markets to operate in an orderly fashion (ahead of B&B's interim management statement on April 22)," he said.

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques and Chris Wills, Editing by Mark Potter)

($1=.5141 Pound)