Columbia Banking System Inc. of Tacoma said it plans to sell $208.8 million of common shares to bolster its already-fat capital ratios.
The $4.3 billion-asset company announced late Thursday that it will sell 9.6 million shares at $21.75 a share, a 1.22% discount to the closing price on April 28, when it made the announcement.
Columbia initially set out to raise $150 million. The transaction is expected to close May 5.
Columbia announced on Wednesday that its first-quarter earnings rose seventeenfold compared with the first quarter of 2009, to $6.8 million.
The earnings were affected by a $9.8 million gain on a failed-bank deal and a $15 million provision for loan losses, up 36% from a year earlier.
