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First BanCorp Announces Commencement of a Rights Offering of 10,651,835 Shares of Common Stock

^{Published on 2011-10-24 14:35:29 - Market Wire}
 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--First BanCorp (NYSE: FBP) (the "Corporation"), parent company of FirstBank Puerto Rico, today announced that it will commence on October 25, 2011, a rights offering (the aRights Offeringa) to sell 10,651,835 shares of common stock to stockholders who owned common stock at the close of business on September 6, 2011 (the aRecord Datea). Stockholders who owned shares of common stock of the Corporation as of the Record Date will receive at no charge a transferable right to purchase newly-issued shares of common stock in the Rights Offering at a price of $3.50 per share.

The Rights Offering enables stockholders who owned shares prior to the completion of the Corporationas recent $525 million private placement of common stock to acquire common stock at the same price paid by the institutional investors in that private placement. Each right will entitle stockholders to purchase one newly-issued share for every two shares of common stock owned on the Record Date. To the extent that some eligible stockholders do not participate in the Rights Offering, or choose to purchase less than their full allocation of shares, the remaining shares will be available for purchase by other eligible stockholders pursuant to an over-subscription privilege. The Rights Offering will expire at 5:00p.m., Eastern time on November29, 2011.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor will there be any offer or sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. To request a copy of the prospectus, you may contact, BNY Mellon Shareowner Services, by telephone, if you are located within the U.S., Canada or Puerto Rico, at 1-866-415-9687 (toll free) or, if you are located outside the U.S., at 1-201-680-6579 (collect).

About First BanCorp

First BanCorp is the parent corporation of FirstBank Puerto Rico, a state-chartered commercial bank with operations in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Florida, and of FirstBank Insurance Agency. First BanCorp and FirstBank Puerto Rico operate within U.S. banking laws and regulations. The Corporation operates a total of 161 branches, stand-alone offices and in-branch service centers throughout Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, and Florida. Among the subsidiaries of FirstBank Puerto Rico are First Federal Finance Corp., a small loan company; FirstBank Puerto Rico Securities, a broker-dealer subsidiary; First Management of Puerto Rico; and FirstMortgage, Inc., a mortgage origination company. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, FirstBank operates First Express, a small loan company. First BanCorpas common and publicly-held preferred shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols FBP, FBPPrA, FBPPrB, FBPPrC, FBPPrD and FBPPrE. Additional information about First BanCorp may be found at [ www.firstbankpr.com ].

Safe Harbor

This press release may contain aforward-looking statements.a The words or phrases awould be,a awill allow,a aintends to,a awill likely result,a aare expected to,a aexpect,a aanticipate,a alook forward,a ashould,a abelievesa and similar expressions are meant to identify aforward-looking statementsa within the meaning of Section 27A of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and are subject to the safe harbor created by such section. The Corporation wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any such aforward-looking statements,a which speak only as of the date made, and represent the Corporationas expectations of future conditions or results and are not guarantees of future performance. The Corporation advises readers that various factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any aforward-looking statement.a Such factors include, but are not limited to, the following: uncertainty about whether the Corporation will be able to fully comply with the written agreement dated June 3, 2010 that the Corporation entered into with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (aFEDa) and the order dated June 2, 2010 (the aOrdera) that FirstBank Puerto Rico entered into with the FDIC and the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico that, among other things, require FirstBank to maintain certain capital levels and reduce its special mention, classified, delinquent and non-accrual assets; uncertainty as to the availability of certain funding sources, such as retail brokered CDs; the Corporationas reliance on brokered CDs and its ability to obtain, on a periodic basis, approval from the FDIC to issue brokered CDs to fund operations and provide liquidity in accordance with the terms of the Order; the risk of not being able to fulfill the Corporationas cash obligations or pay dividends to its shareholders in the future due to its inability to receive approval from the FED to receive dividends from FirstBank Puerto Rico; the risk of being subject to possible additional regulatory actions; the strength or weakness of the real estate markets and of the consumer and commercial credit sectors and their impact on the credit quality of the Corporationas loans and other assets, including the Corporationas construction and commercial real estate loan portfolios, which have contributed and may continue to contribute to, among other things, the high levels of non-performing assets, charge-offs and the provision expense and may subject the Corporation to further risk from loan defaults and foreclosures; adverse changes in general economic conditions in the United States and in Puerto Rico, including the interest rate scenario, market liquidity, housing absorption rates, real estate prices and disruptions in the U.S. capital markets, which may reduce interest margins, impact funding sources and affect demand for all of the Corporationas products and services and the value of the Corporationas assets; the Corporationas inability to attract new clients and retain existing ones; a decrease in demand for the Corporationas products and services and lower revenues and earnings because of the continued recession in Puerto Rico and the current fiscal problems and budget deficit of the Puerto Rico government; uncertainty about regulatory and legislative changes for financial services companies in Puerto Rico, the United States and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, which could affect the Corporationas financial performance and could cause the Corporationas actual results for future periods to differ materially from prior results and anticipated or projected results; uncertainty about the effectiveness of the various actions undertaken to stimulate the United States economy and stabilize the United States financial markets, and the impact such actions may have on the Corporation's business, financial condition and results of operations; changes in the fiscal and monetary policies and regulations of the federal government, including those determined by the Federal Reserve System, the FDIC, government-sponsored housing agencies and local regulators in Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands; the risk of possible failure or circumvention of controls and procedures and the risk that the Corporationas risk management policies may not be adequate; the risk that the FDIC may further increase the deposit insurance premium and/or require special assessments to replenish its insurance fund, causing an additional increase in the Corporationas non-interest expense; risk of not being able to recover the assets pledged to Lehman Brothers Special Financing, Inc.; impact on the Corporationas results of operations and financial condition associated with acquisitions and dispositions; a need to recognize additional impairments on financial instruments or goodwill relating to acquisitions; the adverse effect of litigation; risks that downgrades in the credit ratings of the Corporationas long-term senior debt will adversely affect the Corporationas ability to make future borrowings; general competitive factors and industry consolidation; and the possible future dilution to holders of common stock resulting from additional issuances of common stock or securities convertible into common stock. The Corporation does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any aforward-looking statementsa to reflect occurrences or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements except as required by the federal securities laws.