Sun Bancorp Inc. in Vineland, N.J., said Wednesday that it has returned the government capital it had received three months ago.
Thomas X. Geisel, the president and chief executive officer of the $3.6 billion-asset Sun, said last month that it planned to exit the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program because it had become "politicized."
Sun paid $89,310,000, plus accrued interest of approximately $657,000, to redeem the entire government investment. It had sold 89,310 preferred shares to the Treasury on Jan. 9.
The company also had issued a warrant to purchase 1,543,376 shares of its common stock, at an exercise price of $8.68 per share. Sun has said that it expects the Treasury to sell the warrant.
"When the Capital Purchase Program became available to well-capitalized and healthy financial institutions like Sun, it was a positive partnership between the government and business to stimulate the economy through additional lending and community support," Geisel said in a March 11 press release. "The partnership then became politicized, the rules and regulations changed and the dynamics of the partnership substantially shifted. These changes significantly restricted the way we support our customers and communities, as well as the way we run our business."
Geisel said Sun remains well capitalized and has been increasing its lending, a trend that he expects to continue.
