Monarch Bank of Chesapeake, Va., has raised $6.5 million in a stock offering and said it would use the proceeds to open a new branch and raise its legal lending limit.
The 6-year-old, $237 million-asset bank, which went public in July 2003, sold the stock primarily to local investors in its market of South Hampton Roads, Va., without the help of an investment bank. It said Monday that it sold the maximum of 450,000 shares to 130 investors at $14.50 a share.
William F. Rountree Jr., Monarch's president and chief executive, said in a news release that part of the proceeds would be used to open a branch in Virginia Beach - its third there and seventh over all - in September.
"Now, we're ready to invest this new capital to support our many exciting growth and profit initiatives," Mr. Rountree said in a news release Monday.
The company also said the additional capital would allow it to raise its legal lending limit to $4 million.
