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| 8-K - FIRST FINANCIAL BANCORP /OH/ | v175349_8k.htm |
Exhibit
99.1
First
Financial Bancorp Completes Full Redemption of
its
Senior Preferred Stock in the amount of $80 million from U.S.
Treasury
Cincinnati,
Ohio – February 24, 2010 – First Financial Bancorp (Nasdaq: FFBC) announced
today that it has redeemed all of the $80 million of senior preferred shares
issued to the U.S. Treasury in December 2008 under its Capital
Purchase Program (CPP), a component of the Troubled Asset Relief Program
(TARP).
First
Financial will include in its computation of earnings per diluted common share
the impact of a deemed dividend of $0.8 million, representing the unaccreted
preferred stock discount remaining on the transaction date. This one-time deemed
dividend is in addition to the first quarter 2010 preferred cash dividends paid
through the redemption date, totaling $1.1 million.
A warrant
issued in connection with the preferred shares will continue to be held by the
U.S. Treasury. The warrant enables the U.S. Treasury to purchase up to
approximately 465,117 shares of First Financial common stock at an exercise
price of $12.90 per share until its expiration on December 23, 2018. First
Financial does not intend to repurchase the warrant at this time.
Forward-Looking
Statements
This news release should be read in
conjunction with the consolidated financial statements, notes and
tables in First Financial Bancorp’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2008. Management’s analysis contains forward-looking
statements that are provided to assist in the understanding of anticipated future financial
performance. However, such performance involves risk and uncertainties that may
cause actual results to differ materially. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
management’s ability to effectively execute its business plan; the risk
that the strength of the United States economy in general and the strength of
the local economies in which we conduct operations may continue to deteriorate
resulting in, among other things, a further deterioration in credit quality or a
reduced demand for credit, including the resultant effect on our loan portfolio,
allowance for loan and lease losses and overall financial performance; the
ability of financial institutions to access sources of liquidity at a reasonable
cost; the impact of recent upheaval in the financial markets and the
effectiveness of domestic and international governmental actions taken in
response, such as the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program and the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (“FDIC”) Temporary Liquidity Guarantee
Program, and the effect of such governmental actions on us, our competitors and
counterparties, financial markets generally and availability of credit
specifically, and the U.S. and international economies, including potentially
higher FDIC premiums arising from participation in the Temporary Liquidity
Guarantee Program or from increased payments from FDIC insurance funds as a
result of depositary institution failures; the effects of and changes in
policies and laws of regulatory agencies, inflation and interest rates;
technology changes; mergers and acquisitions, including costs or difficulties
related to the integration of acquired companies, including our ability to
successfully integrate the branches of Peoples Community Bank, Irwin Union Bank
and Trust Company and Irwin Union Bank, F.S.B., which were acquired out of FDIC
receivership, and the risk that exploring merger and acquisition opportunities
may detract from management’s time and ability to successfully manage our
company; expected cost savings in connection with the consolidation of recent
acquisitions may not be fully realized or realized within the expected time
frames, and deposit attrition, customer loss and revenue loss following
completed acquisitions may be greater than expected; our ability to increase
market share and control expenses; the effect of changes in accounting policies
and practices, as may be adopted by the regulatory agencies as well as the
Financial Accounting Standards Board and the SEC; adverse changes in the
securities and debt markets; our success in recruiting and retaining the
necessary personnel to support business growth and expansion and maintain
sufficient expertise to support increasingly complex products and services;
monetary and fiscal policies of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System (the “Federal Reserve”) and the U.S. government and other governmental
initiatives affecting the financial services industry; our ability to manage
loan delinquency and charge-off rates and changes in estimation of the adequacy
of the allowance for loan losses; the costs and effects of litigation and of
unexpected or adverse outcomes in such litigation; the uncertainties arising
from our participation in the TARP CPP, including impacts on employee
recruitment and retention and other business practices; and our success at
managing the risks involved in the foregoing. For further discussion of certain factors
that may cause such
forward-looking statements to differ materially from actual results, refer to
the 2008 Form 10-K and other public documents filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as the most recent Form 10-Q filing for the
quarter ended September 30, 2009. These
documents are available at no cost within the investor relations section of
First Financial’s website at www.bankatfirst.com/investor
and on the SEC's website at
www.sec.gov.
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About
First Financial Bancorp
First
Financial Bancorp is a Cincinnati, Ohio based bank holding company. At December
31, 2009, the company had $6.7 billion in assets, including $4.8 billion in
total loans and $5.4 billion in deposits. Its banking subsidiary, First
Financial Bank, N.A., founded in 1863, provides consumer and commercial banking
products and services, and investment and insurance products through its retail
banking center network. Its strategic operating markets are located in Ohio,
Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan where it operates 118 banking centers. The bank’s
wealth management division, First Financial Wealth Resource Group, provides
investment management, traditional trust, brokerage and insurance services, and
had approximately $2.2 billion in assets under management at December 31, 2009.
Additional information about the company, including its products, services, and
banking locations, is available at www.bankatfirst.com/investor.
Additional
Information
|
Investors/Analysts
Patti
Forsythe
Vice
President, Investor Relations
513-979-5837
patti.forsythe@bankatfirst.com
|
Media
Cheryl
Lipp
First
Vice President, Marketing Director
513-979-5797
cheryl.lipp@bankatfirst.com
|
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