Auction Part of Treasury’s Continued Efforts to Wind Down TARP

WASHINGTON – As part of its ongoing efforts to manage and recover its remaining Capital Purchase Program (CPP) investments under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it priced secondary public offerings of the preferred stock it holds in the following six institutions at the following prices per share:

• Banner Corporation, Walla Walla, WA (“Banner”), all of its 124,000 shares priced at $884.82 per share (approximately $108 million net proceeds);
• First Financial Holdings Inc., Charleston, SC (“First Financial”), all of its 65,000 shares priced at $873.51 per share (approximately $56 million net proceeds);
• MainSource Financial Group, Inc., Greensburg, IN (“MainSource”), all of its 57,000 shares priced at $931.11 per share (approximately $52 million net proceeds);
• Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, Stuart, FL (“Seacoast”), all of its 2,000 shares priced at $20,510.00 per share (approximately $40 million net proceeds);
• Wilshire Bancorp, Inc., Los Angeles, CA (“Wilshire”), all of its 62,158 shares priced at $943.51 per share (approximately $58 million net proceeds); and
• WSFS Financial Corporation, Wilmington, DE (“WSFS”), all of its 52,625 shares priced at $915.11 per share (approximately $47 million net proceeds).

The aggregate net proceeds to Treasury from the six offerings are expected to be approximately $362 million. The prices above reflect a liquidation amount per share of $1,000 for the preferred stock of each of Banner, First Financial, MainSource, Wilshire and WSFS, and a liquidation amount per share of $25,000 for the preferred stock of Seacoast. At settlement, winning bidders will be required to pay the clearing price for the preferred stock plus accrued and unpaid dividends on the preferred stock from and including February 15, 2012.

TARP’s bank programs have already earned a significant profit for taxpayers. Including the expected proceeds from today’s transaction, Treasury has now recovered $260 billion from TARP’s bank programs through repayments, dividends, interest, and other income – compared to the $245 billion initially invested. Each additional dollar recovered from TARP’s bank programs is an additional dollar of profit for taxpayers.

“Today’s auction is part of our ongoing efforts to wind down TARP,” said Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Tim Massad. “TARP’s bank programs succeeded in stabilizing our financial sector and have already earned a significant profit for the taxpayer.”

The closing is expected to occur on or about April 3, 2012, subject to customary closing conditions. The offering was priced through a modified Dutch auction.  Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (“Merrill Lynch”) and Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. (“Sandler O’Neill”) were the auction agents and joint bookrunning managers for the offerings of the preferred stock of Banner, MainSource, Seacoast, Wilshire and WSFS.  Merrill Lynch was the auction agent and sole bookrunning manager for the offering of the preferred stock of First Financial.  Houlihan Lokey Capital, Inc. is serving as financial advisor to Treasury with respect to the management and disposition of its Capital Purchase Program investments. 

Each series of preferred stock was offered pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement filed by the applicable issuer with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Preliminary prospectus supplements related to each offering were filed with the SEC on March 26, 2012, and a final prospectus supplement related to each offering will be filed by the applicable issuer with the SEC and will be available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

Copies of the final prospectus supplements relating to the offerings of the preferred stock of Banner, MainSource, Seacoast, Wilshire and WSFS may be obtained, when available, from Merrill Lynch via email at dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com or (800) 294-1322 or from Sandler O’Neill via email at syndicate@sandleroneill.com or (866) 805-4128. Copies of the final prospectus supplement relating to the offering of the preferred stock of First Financial may be obtained, when available, from Merrill Lynch via email at dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com or (800) 294-1322.

Before you invest, you should read the prospectus and prospectus supplement in the registration statement and other documents the applicable issuer has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the issuer and the preferred stock.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

For more details on Treasury’s lifetime cost estimates for TARP programs, please visit Treasury’s Monthly 105(a) Report to Congress on TARP at this link.

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