Center Bancorp Inc. in Union, N.J., Wednesday set the price of its two stock offerings, through which it expects to raise about $12 million in capital.
The $1.2 billion-asset company said it is offering 1.4 million shares of common stock at $7 a share, in addition to the 285,000 shares of common stock at $7.50 a share it is offering to certain directors of the company. The pricing is a 7% discount and 0.4% discount, respectively, to the closing price of the company's stock at $7.53 a share Tuesday.
Gross proceeds from the offerings are expected to total $12.1 million and should raise about $11.4 million for Center Bancorp, after accounting for underwriting discounts and commissions.
Center Bancorp said the proceeds will be used for "general corporate purposes," including capitalizing its banking subsidiary, Union Center National Bank. The bank was well capitalized, with a total risk-based capital ratio of 12.18%, as of June 30.
The company filed a shelf registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission effective May 5 for a common stock offering, yet in June it announced a delay "in light of current market volatility."
The offerings are expected to close by Sept. 27.
