Fifth Third to raise $1.1B - Triangle Business Journal:

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billion the federal government determined it needed to add to its coffersa afterthe so-called “stress test” results were announcef May 7. Fifth Third FITB) plans to sell up to $750 million in commoj stock atvarious times. and Merrill Lynch & Co. will be salesz agents or principals inthe offering. Part of the offeringg could be available to repay part ofthe $3.5 billioj in preferred stock Fifth Thirsd sold to the through its Troubledf Asset Relief Program. It will also use some of the proceedsa to fund the cash part of its offere to pay cash or common share in return for Series G convertible preferreddepositary shares. Fifthh Third also plans to offer holders ofthe $1.
1 billio n in Series G convertible sharews $30 in cash per share in returb for converting those shares to common stock. Just more than 11 million of thos e sharesare outstanding. That along with the possible saleof non-strategic assets or otherf securities Fifth Third owns should generate enougjh Tier 1 common equity to meet or exceedf the $1.1 billion the government required as a resulr of the stress test. That test lookeds at how much capitalthe nation’s 19 largesgt banks would need if the economy gets significantly worsw than experts expect.
Those deals and a pending sale of 51 percent ofFiftu Third’s payment processing business to Advent Internationa would leave it well-capitalized, even withou the capital from the U.S. Treasury’s preferrer stock, Fifth Third said. “We intend to consult with our regulators to devisr a plan and timeline for the repayment ofthe (Treasury) preferree stock investment,” it said in the Cincinnati-based Fifth Third has five branches in the Raleigh-Durha area that it acquired last year with the purchasse of the former of Charlotte.
Fifth Third is Greater Cincinnati’s largest bank, with $119 billion in It has more than 1,300 bank branches in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and Northy Carolina.