(The item "Popular Exchanges $934.1M Preferred Shares From US
Govt," published at 9:26 a.m. EDT, incorrectly said the shares were
from the U.S. government in the headline. The corrected version
follows.)
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Popular Inc. (BPOP) exchanged $934.1 million of its preferred
shares as part of its plan, announced last week, to boost common
equity capital and set aside funds in case of worse-than-expected
conditions.
Separately, last week, the bank announced the U.S. Treasury
Department would convert $935 million of Popular preferred stock it
received through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, into
trust preferred securities, in a move that signaled the
government's interest in maintaining a strong lender in the
troubled Puerto Rican economy.
Popular, headquartered in San Juan, has been struggling with the
island's four-year recession, and with the aftermath of its
expansion into the mainland's banking and subprime-loan markets.
Popular is Puerto Rico's biggest bank by assets and deposits.
The company had to extend the deadline on the offering twice and
had sweetened the deal to try to get shareholders to participate.
The Treasury Department also got involved to nudge more trust
preferred holders to participate.
Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Carrion said Friday the
exchange offer was necessary amid the current state of the economy
in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. "The corporation is now well
positioned in the event a worse-than-expected business environment
materializes in the future," he added.
The company said it will issue about 357.6 million common shares
in the exchange offer, which will more than double the amount of
its common shares outstanding.
-By Kerry Grace Benn, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2353;
kerry.benn@dowjones.com
(Matthias Rieker contributed to this report.)