After taking a measured approach in repaying the Treasury Department earlier this year, Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. is moving forward in earnest.
The $6 billion-asset company announced Wednesday that it had repaid the remaining $104 million it owed the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The company had issued $154 million in preferred securities to the Treasury, but it redeemed $50 million of the investment in January.
Boston Private also announced Wednesday that it would seek to raise as much as $29 million in common equity through a public stock offering priced at $6.10 per share, an 18% discount to its stock price on June 3, when it first announced it was pursuing additional capital.
Though the capital raise and the Tarp repayment were both announced Wednesday, analysts said the two are likely unrelated.
In a June 7 research note, Lana Chan, a senior banking analyst at Bank of Montreal's BMO Capital Markets, called the capital raise a surprise and noted that the company made its first Tarp redemption without raising any additional capital.
Instead, Chan said, the capital raise was likely driven by the provision Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, attached to the regulatory reform bill that would eliminate the use of trust-preferred securities as Tier 1 capital.
"We believe the offering could be a defensive measure against potential legislation that would no longer count trust-preferred securities as Tier 1 capital," Chan said.
Chan said that trust-preferred securities account for roughly 30% of Boston Private's Tier 1 risk-based capital, compared with a median of 11% at the other similarly sized bank companies she covers.
David Kaye, Boston Private's chief financial officer, wrote in an e-mail Thursday that the future treatment of trust-preferred securities was one of several factors considered but not the driving force of the capital raise.
Boston Private Chairman and Chief Executive Timothy L. Vaill said in October that he was balancing the desire to repay Tarp as soon as possible with holding on to the insurance until the time was right.
In a press release issued late Wednesday, Vaill said the full repayment "underscores the progress we have made" in strengthening Boston Private's balance sheet.
It provides "greater strategic flexibility and independence as we continue to serve our high-net-worth customers and focus on the long-term growth and success of our company," Vaill said.
