Popular, Inc. Assumes Deposits, Acquires Assets of Westernbank Puerto Rico from Federal Deposit Insurance CorporationFont size: A
Popular, Inc. (NASDAQ:BPOP) announced today that its banking subsidiary, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, has acquired assets and assumed all retail deposit liabilities of Westernbank Puerto Rico from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("the FDIC").

Popular will receive approximately $9 billion in assets and approximately $2.5 billion in non-brokered deposit liabilities from the FDIC. Popular will enter into a loss-sharing agreement with the FDIC on acquired loans. Banco Popular will also issue a five-year note to the FDIC reflecting the difference between the purchase price for the assets and the amount of deposits assumed. The note will pay interest at an annual rate of 2.5 percent. In addition, the FDIC will receive a value appreciation instrument, which grants the FDIC a one-year right to receive a cash payment equal to 50 million multiplied by the difference between the stock price at the time of exercise of the value appreciation instrument and $3.43, which was Popular's 20-day trailing average stock price on April 27. The FDIC may exercise this right at any time, in whole or in part, during the one year period.

"Today's events are difficult yet necessary to reestablish a healthy banking sector in Puerto Rico, which is essential for an economic recovery to take place on the island," said Richard L. Carrion, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Popular, Inc. "We have a long-term commitment to our main market, Puerto Rico, which we have serviced for 116 years, and to our clients, employees and shareholders, whom we are grateful for their support."

Customers of both banks should continue to bank as they normally do at their existing branches. Depositors of Westernbank who have ATM debit cards or checking accounts can continue to access their money by using their cards or writing checks.

"Our top priorities are to assure Westernbank customers that their deposits are safe, secure and readily accessible and to deliver them excellent service," said David H. Chafey, Jr., President and Chief Operating Officer of Popular, Inc. "We look forward to building strong relationships with the uncompromising dedication of all of our people and the best possible financial services."

Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Popular and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP acted as legal counsel.

Founded in 1893, Popular, Inc. is the leading banking institution by both assets and deposits in Puerto Rico and ranks 38th by assets among U.S. banks. In the United States, Popular has established a community-banking franchise providing a broad range of financial services and products with branches in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Florida and California. Popular provides offers processing technology services through its subsidiary EVERTEC, which processes approximately 1.1 billion transactions annually in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Demise of WHI with forced disposition:
"Now the WHI shareholders are awaiting the Frank Stipes legal actions vs the Regulaters unethical /illegal action to save the Puerto Rico
banking system by taking from WHI and giving to BPOP. This action added $6 Billion
resources to the Puerto Rico Banking System. FDIC took over the obligation for $6 Billion of short term Broker Deposits that were an obligation of the banking system and invested in loans held by WHI.....then the $6 good loan assets were given to BPOP and the $6 Billion obligation
became a $6 Billion note payable to the FDIC at 2 1/2% interest due in 5 years.

This added $6 Billion immediate resources to the Puerto Rico Banking System"
source: Saul; Yahoo WHI board!

FDIC Closer To Resolution For Three Puerto Rican Banks

By Matthias Rieker
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


NEW YORK (Dow Jones)
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took one step closer to a resolution for three troubled banks in Puerto Rico, as the agency on Tuesday finalized the bidding for W Holding Co. Inc.'s (WHI) Westernbank, R&G Financial Corp.'s (RGFC) R-G Premier Bank, and EuroBancshares Inc.'s (EUBK) EuroBank, according to several people with knowledge of the matter.

The auction attracted more participants than originally expected, according to one person familiar with the matter, suggesting that the FDIC had some success in marketing the island's banks and assets as attractive deals.

However, the FDIC's resolution of the troubled banks could do considerable damage to its insurance fund. The three banks have a combined total of about $21 billion in assets, a quarter of the island's bank assets, and hold 30% of its deposits. The FDIC declined to comment. Calls to the three banks remained unanswered.

Popular Inc. (BPOP), Doral Financial Corp. (DRL) and Oriental Financial Group Inc. (OFG), all in San Juan, Puerto Rico, had raised capital in anticipation of the FDIC's auction and put in bids, according to several people familiar with the matter. They haven't been informed whether their bids were successful.

Banco Santander SA (STD, SAN.MC), which has a small presence on the island through its Santander Bancorp (SBP) unit, also participated in the bidding, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Madrid bank bought Sovereign Bancorp of Philadelphia in 2008.

Many banks in Puerto Rico have expressed interest in consolidating the island's banking business. The island is a tough banking market, because of its slow economic growth, low household income and high unemployment. Deposits are hard to come by and the island's 11 banks compete fiercely for loans. The fragile market, loaded with troubled loans from soured real estate deals, will have a chance to stabilize if there are fewer banks, bankers and analysts have argued.

The island has been in a recession since 2006, and its government has struggled to reach a fiscal balance and to reshape an economy
once heavily dependent on manufacturing and the pharmaceutical industry.

But Popular, Oriental, and Doral were able to raise almost $2 billion in capital combined in recent weeks. Popular, helped by Morgan Stanley (MS), raised $1.15 billion; Oriental, through Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. (KBW), raised $100 million, and Doral, with the help of Barclays Capital (BCS, BARC.LN), raised $600 million, $420 million of which is contingent upon Doral making an acquisition.

First BanCorp Puerto Rico (FBP), the island's second-largest bank after Popular, had also wanted to be a consolidator but said Monday it isn't considering participating in any FDIC-assisted transaction until it raises capital. First BanCorp is seeking to raise $500 million in common stock and a spokesman said investors have shown interest in the offering.

In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, First BanCorp said the FDIC ordered the bank "to raise capital in an expedited process." It hired Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP and UBS AG (UBS, UBSN.VX).

On Monday, the bank said its first-quarter loss doubled from the previous quarter, to $107 million.

A First BanCorp spokesman said the bank plans to benefit from the consolidation by luring more customers; it has been increasing its market share
for core deposits.

Westernbank, R-G Premier Bank, and EuroBank also suffer from a heavy load of delinquent loans that are eating up capital. Too much of the banks' deposits are from institutional investors, such as mutual and pension funds, rather than the island's bank customers. Such brokered deposits are expensive and less stable than customer deposits.

How big the loss for the FDIC will be depends on how the agency structures the deals for the three banks and their assets, and on bidders' interest. It has hired Deutsche Bank AG (DB, DBK.XE) to help find a solution. Real-estate investors
have expressed interest in the assets, mainly commercial real estate loans for upscale apartment buildings and hotels, that may recover their value once the island rebounds from its recession.

The FDIC could spin off some of the banks' assets and sell them separately--prices for such real-estate assets have broadly stabilized and the agency has been successful in selling assets left over from failed banks.

Sources familiar with the matter have said the Puerto Rican banks who are bidding are also interested in keeping the assets, which make up most of the value of the three troubled banks.

-By Matthias Rieker, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2471; matthias.rieker@dowjones.com

(Robin
Sidel contributed to this article.)




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W Holding Co. Inc. Historical Chart W Holding Co. Inc. Intraday Chart

Westernbank sold by FDIC on friday. This is not a good thing.

moment and stock, great call. Up 30% on 10 large...sold some...holding for 8's and above...

7$+ Run Coming Short Squeezeeee

Upticking

In down here at 5.54 Stock is way oversold gots to be a ton of shorts in this thing that needs to cover should be good for a few bucks bounce chart is extremly oversold down here

Float and cap is tiny .31% shortsqueeze pasted.

W Holding Co. Inc. $ 6.59
WHI -0.16

Short Interest (Shares Short) 690,000
Days To Cover (Short Interest Ratio) 3.7
Short Percent of Float 31.62 %
Short Interest - Prior 618,500
Short % Increase / Decrease 11.56 %
Short Squeeze Ranking™ -63

% From 52-Wk High ($ 27.61 ) -318.97 %
% From 52-Wk Low ($ 6.67 ) -1.21 %
% From 200-Day MA ($ 14.53 ) -120.49 %
% From 50-Day MA ($ 14.67 ) -122.61 %
Price % Change (52-Week) -53.50 %

Shares Float 2,181,844
Total Shares Outstanding 3,297,815
% Owned by Insiders 27.00 %
% Owned by Institutions 29.00 %
Market Cap. $ 21,732,601
Trading Volume - Today 62,626
Trading Volume - Average 186,500
Trading Volume - Today vs. Average 33.58 %
Earnings Per Share -10.73
PE Ratio
Record Date 2010-AprA

Sector Financial
Industry Savings & Loans
Exchange NY
Data Provided Without Warranty

Just got some for a retracement.Oversold imo.

I'm glad they finally got all their numbers in order and it's good to see that equity grew from 915 to 980 million between 31/12/08 and 31/09/2009.

It's like many investors never realised they did the reverse split. Even with the 100% share increase since I bought at 11,00 the valuation compared to book value is still just so low!

Sometimes you just hit the homerun, all about sentiment and in this case we were all able to capitalize because people no longer took notice of the low valuation because of the delayed numbers for the last 1.5 years while you had a credit crisis.

Once the big guns realise they restated almost 2 years of numbers in the last few months and everything has turned out to be fine we should see this thing getting back to at least a realistic valuation and maybe split to get back to the old number of shares :)

Perhaps in 2 years you'll have the same share price but with 10X the shares or just a $100 share price, who cares.. either way a 10-bagger ;)

yes. the various preferred of this along with the common have made a nice move since.

Ronnie did you pay $2.50 per share?

WBPRZ W Holding Co. Inc., 6.70% Noncumul Monthly Income Preferred Stock, 2003 Series F OTOTC
WBPRJ W Holding Co. Inc., 6.70% Noncumul Monthly Income Preferred Stock, 2004 Series H OTOTC
WBPRL W Holding Co. Inc., 6.875% Noncum Monthly Income Preferred Stock, 2002 Series E OTOTC
WBPRK W Holding Co. Inc., 6.90% Noncumul Monthly Income Preferred Stock, 2003 Series G OTOTC
WBPRP W Holding Co. Inc., 7.125% Noncum Conv Monthly Income Preferred Stock 1998 Ser A OTOTC
WBPRO W Holding Co. Inc., 7.25% Noncumul Monthly Income Preferred Stock, 1999 Series B OTOTC
WBPRM W Holding Co. Inc., 7.40% Noncumul Monthly Income Preferred Stock, 2001 Series D OTOTC
WBPRN W Holding Co. Inc., 7.60% Noncumul Monthly Income Preferred Stock, 2001 Series C OTOTC

Ronnie; WPPRO is the ticker symbol , right? Will look into it? why this particular one? assume there are prefereds as well? Which others?
I am familiar with common only?
GL

I picked up some Preferred B today..
2.50.. any hint of returning to dividend status and it's a 10 bagger.

(NYSE: WHI) W Holding Co. Inc., 7.25% Noncumul Monthly Income Preferred Stock, 1999 Series B

Ticker Symbol: WBPRO CUSIP: 929251304 Exchange: OTOTC
Security Type: Traditional Preferred Stock

SECURITY DESCRIPTION: W Holding Co., Inc. 7.25% Noncumulative Monthly Income Preferred Stock, 1999 Series B, liquidation preference $25 per share, redeemable at the issuer's option on or after 5/28/2004 at $26 per share which declines to $25 per share by 5/28/2006 (see schedule on page 38 of the prospectus), plus declared and unpaid dividends, with no stated maturity, and with noncumulative distributions of 7.25% (1.8125) per annum paid monthly on the 15th day of each month to holders of record as designated by the board, not more than 45 days prior to the payment date. In regards to payment of dividends and upon liquidation, the preferred shares rank equally with other preferreds and senior to the common shares of the company. See the IPO prospectus for further information on the preferred stock by clicking on the ‘Link to IPO Prospectus’ provided below. The Series B preferred stock was issued during the conversion to a holding company on 7/30/99 to replace the Westernbank Puerto Rico Series B Preferred Stock which had been issued in May, 1999.

Notes: From a company news release dated 2/17/2009 -- The Company simultaneously announced that the Company's Board of Directors approved to temporarily suspend all monthly dividends on the Company's common stock and on all outstanding series of its preferred stock, effective with the payment to be made on March 16, 2009, applicable to stockholders of record as of February 28, 2009. Mr. Stipes indicated this to be a difficult but prudent capital management decision designed to further strengthen the Bank's capital position. Mr. Stipes indicated that any and all measures, such as these, are and will be taken as deemed appropriate. He acknowledged, on behalf of the Board of Directors, how hard and difficult it is for many Puerto Rican residents and American citizens not to receive their monthly dividend, the first time this measure has been taken in the Bank's history. However, he indicated that as soon as economic conditions may warrant under sound and prudent criteria, the Board of Directors will review again, when appropriate, the reestablishment of dividend payments.

$6.95

$10.00 short squeze. no news!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5d&s=FBP&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=ofg%2Cbpop%2Cwhi%2Cdrl

$6.66 wholly shoooot!

This explains!
W Holding Company, Inc. (WHI), the Holding Company of Westernbank Puerto Rico, Informs Status on Financial Reporting; Updates St

MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico, Feb. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- W Holding Company, Inc. (NYSE:WHI) (the "Company"), the bank holding company of Westernbank Puerto Rico (the "Bank"), informed today that the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 is substantially completed. Management expects to conclude and file the same shortly. The Form 10-K will be filed to include the Company's audited consolidated financial statements and related notes for the year ended December 31, 2007, to reflect the restatement of the Company's previously issued audited consolidated financial statements and related notes for the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005.

Commenting on this matter, Mr. Frank C. Stipes, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company stated: "These are challenging times in the banking industry, and while we have put so much effort into the restatement process to get the financial statements filed for 2007 and back to timely reporting, we have also remained focused on our core banking business."

Mr. Stipes continued, saying, "Management is taking the Bank back to basics with its strong client-oriented service culture and a community bank approach that are and have been the roots of this organically grown institution through solidity, profitability and diversified growth."

The Company also announced today that the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") has notified the Company that the price of the Company's common stock was back in compliance with the NYSE Listed Company Manual Section 802.01C, requiring at least a $1.00 per share average closing price over 30 consecutive trading days. On its July 18, 2008 Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Company announced that it was advised by the NYSE that the Company was not in compliance with NYSE Listed Company Manual Section 802.01C because the average closing price of the Company's common stock had been less than $1.00 for 30 consecutive trading days. The Company's Board of Directors and stockholders previously approved a 1-for-50 reverse stock split of the Company's common stock with the intent to regain compliance with the NYSE's price criteria.

Commenting on this matter, Mr. Stipes stated: "With the price of our common stock back in compliance with NYSE price criteria, we have completed another important step in our strategic long term plan. This action provides our shareholders with continued access to the world's largest stock exchange, which results in added liquidity and low transaction costs."

Mr. Stipes continued by saying, "This is the largest organically grown bank and company in the history of Puerto Rico. This bank was not made up by consolidations, mergers, or acquisitions, but by the ideals, passion, sweat, efforts and commitment of hard working people, such as our clients, fellow officers, and employees, as well as stockowners who believed, and still do, in the values of our land, our businesses, and most of all, our people.

"The People's Bank, the name by which this Bank is known, is not just a slogan, it's a conviction.

"Those of us who are directly or indirectly part of our Island and our Bank, hold true in our hearts, minds, and in our relentless commitment this ideal, to do and accomplish what we have planned for the island of Puerto Rico, our people, and our Bank for 2009 and onward.

"Therefore, as one of Puerto Rico's most important and significant lenders in the business, mortgage and commercial sector, we at Westernbank are committed to working with our clients and helping stimulate and pull this economy out of the difficulties it is in, by providing the confidence, trust and financial support needed in times like these."

The Company simultaneously announced that the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") approved to temporarily suspend all monthly dividends on the Company's common stock and on all outstanding series of its preferred stock, effective with the payment to be made on March 16, 2009, applicable to stockholders of record as of February 28, 2009. Mr. Stipes indicated this to be a difficult but prudent capital management decision designed to further strengthen the Bank's capital position. Mr. Stipes indicated that any and all measures, such as these, are and will be taken as deemed appropriate. He acknowledged, on behalf of the Board of Directors, how hard and difficult it is for many Puerto Rican residents and American citizens not to receive their monthly dividend, the first time this measure has been taken in the Bank's history. However, he indicated that as soon as economic conditions may warrant under sound and prudent criteria, the Board of Directors will review again, when appropriate, the reestablishment of dividend payments.

$9.25 now.. most confusing financial!

$11.25.. jan 15

First down with R/S then up; then up; then down; now up again..

reverse split 50/1 .. tanked again. $7.35 today dec 3 08.. markets dont like R/Ss.. Yet same thing happened to DRL with 20/1 RS last year and stox recoverd after decline but at $6.00s lows again this year with financial crisis..

IYXI - Up from .01 to .015 on small volume. Nice FIRST post!

when

IYXI - WHI - Pay us $500 MILLION to 2 BILLION bucks guys!