Marshall & Ilsley Corp. of Milwaukee said Tuesday it will sell up to $350 million in stock directly into the market and said it could use some of the proceeds to repay money it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Many companies have been making secondary share offerings to take advantage of heightened investor demand for shares, but Marshall & Ilsley, Wisconsin's largest bank, will issue its shares directly into the market to be bought through broker transactions at prevailing market prices. Offerings are typically priced at a discount of as much as 10%.
Representatives of the company were not available to say why it was using the direct-sale method.
The company said it will use the proceeds from any stock sales for general corporate purposes, and may give some of the proceeds to its units for corporate purposes. It may use some of the proceeds to buy back some of the preferred shares it issued to the Treasury as part of Tarp.
