First Bancorp (FBP)

[mlkrborn]

First BanCorp (Puerto Rico)
FBP.N
$5.55
+0.70+14.43%
12:00am EST

Wed Jan 5, 2011 6:26pm EST

* Move to regain compliance with NYSE listing rules

* Share down 15 pct after-market

By Jochelle Mendonca

BANGALORE, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Puerto Rico-based First BanCorp (FBP.N) said it would implement a one-for-15 reverse stock split of its shares to regain compliance with listing rules on the New York Stock Exchange.

The U.S. regional lender, which has traded under a dollar since the end of June, received a non-compliance notice from the exchange on July 9 last year and had six months to regain compliance.

The reverse split may also help the bank in its proposed $350 million capital raise, Keefe Bruyette and Woods analyst Bain Slack told Reuters.

"Now they are trying to do it again, but obviously with a higher stock price which is likely to help the company," Slack said referring to the company's capital raise plans.

The analyst said a depressed price would have required the bank to issue more shares, putting it at risk of breaching its share-cap authorization.

The second-largest bank in Puerto Rico, whose credit quality was badly hit in the downturn, is selling $702 million in bad loans to clean up its balance sheet. [ID:nSGE6B70BJ]

Shares of the company were down 15 percent at $0.41 in trading after the bell. (Reporting by Jochelle Mendonca; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)