Monday, July 26, 2010
First State Bancorp faces delisting
New Mexico Business Weekly
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The parent company of First Community Bank said Monday that its stock was being delisted by NASDAQ, effective at the open of business Wednesday.
First State Bancorp (NASDAQ: FSNM ) made the announcement in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The stock closed at 36 cents per share Monday.
First Community lost $25.7 million in the first quarter, $110.5 million in 2009, and $153 million in 2008. It has been trying to raise capital to boost its reserves.
First Community President and CEO Pat Dee said the delisting was “another little bump in the road” for the bank, which has been under a regulatory order from the Federal Reserve Bank since the summer of 2009.
“The good news for our shareholders is that they can continue to trade the shares on the over-the-counter market,” Dee said. “This will not affect the day-to-day operations of the bank.”
The bank announced earlier this month that it had ended an unsuccessful effort to buy back $95 million in trust preferred securities at 15 cents on the dollar. The bank holding company announced June 9 that it was attempting to buy back the securities in an effort to rid itself of debt and recapitalize the bank.
The securities, bought by investors between 2002 and 2007, were used to capitalize the bank. The repurchase offer ended at 5 p.m. July 7.
In May, First State revised its first quarter financial statements to add $10 million to its loan loss reserves. That move dropped First Community’s ratio of total capital to risk-weighted assets to 7.53 percent, which put the bank into the undercapitalized category for federal regulatory purposes.
First Community is New Mexico’s third largest bank, with $2.7 billion in assets.
Read more: First State Bancorp faces delisting - New Mexico Business Weekly
