The family that owns consumer products giant S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. has won approval from the Federal Reserve Board to invest $235 million in its ailing namesake bank.
The $4.1 billion-asset Johnson Bank, a unit of Johnson Financial Inc., has lost close to $250 million over the last three years and is under orders from its regulators to strengthen its capital ratios.
In November the family members announced that they intended to recapitalize the bank — through an investment in the holding company — with their own money as a way to keep the bank family-owned.
On Wednesday, Johnson Financial said that the request had been approved.
"We will remain independent, privately owned and focused on meeting the needs of our local customers and communities for the long term," Johnson Financial Chairman Helen Johnson-Leipold said in a statement.
With the investment, Johnson Bank's total risk-based capital ratio will rise to 14.89% from 9.48%, the company said.
Aside from the bank, the Johnson family controls two additional Racine companies — S.C. Johnson & Son, which makes consumer products such as Raid bug spray, and Johnson Outdoors Inc., a maker of boat engines, tents and other recreational equipment. Johnson Bank was founded in 1970 and is the second-biggest bank based in Wisconsin.
