Monday, First Financial Bancorp (FFBC) said that it has completed the prepayment of approximately $232 million of Federal Home Loan Bank advances. All of the advances were assumed as part of the FDIC-assisted transactions the company conducted during the third quarter 2009.
According to Claude Davis, Chief Executive Officer, "As we mentioned in our second quarter 2010 earnings release, we have been evaluating alternatives related to our growing cash position. We concluded that reducing our borrowing levels provides the largest incremental, risk-adjusted benefit to shareholder value among the alternatives under consideration and we will continue to evaluate other opportunities as market conditions permit."
As a result, the company estimates that it will realize pre-tax interest expense savings of $1.7 million during the remainder of 2010, $4.4 million for the full year 2011 and $3.3 million for the full year 2012.
Had the prepayments occurred during the second quarter, the company estimates that they would have enhanced net interest margin by approximately 27 basis points. The net pre-tax loss of approximately $8.0 million will be recognized during the third quarter and will reduce earnings per share by $0.09 based on the number of average diluted common shares outstanding as of June 30.
FFBC closed Monday's last trade at $15.35, down $0.56 or 3.52%, on a volume of 267 thousand shares on the Nasdaq.
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