Banks may be left with stake as B&B cash call closes

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's top banks may be left with a key holding in Bradford & Bingley BB.L after a 400 million pound cash call closed on Friday with shares trading just a shade above the rights issue price.

Shares in Bradford & Bingley were trading at 55.25p at noon, above the 55p rights price for the twice-restructured issue and indicating a modest take-up as the deadline for subscriptions closed.

The bank, which follows larger peers HBOS HBOS.L and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) in turning to shareholders for cash to boost a battered balance sheet, is not expected to publish the full outcome of the issue before Monday.

Shareholders will have made their decision over the past days, when shares have traded around 55p, but most of the bank's retail investors -- which own about 40 percent of the former mutual -- are not expected to buy stock.

B&B is, however, expected to exceed the paltry 8 percent take-up of HBOS's rights issue last month, after that cash call closed with shares below the issue price.

Underwriters Citi and UBS said they would stand by the rights issue plan, supported by four top shareholders who are expected to be sub-underwriting 145 million pounds of the total. Six clearing banks have also agreed to back the underwriters.

HSBC (HSBA.L), Lloyds TSB (LLOY.L), HBOS, Barclays (BARC.L), Santander's (SAN.MC) Abbey and Royal Bank of Scotland have agreed to sub-underwrite about half the rights issue, which could leave them with as much as a fifth of the enlarged share base.

B&B shares fell as low as 31p last month -- hit by worries over the bank's future beyond the cash call and the impact of a deteriorating UK economy on the country's top buy-to-let lender -- but have since traded around 55p.

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; Editing by David Cowell)