First Bancorp gets stockholder OK to raise up to $525M in capital
First BanCorp, parent company for FirstBank Puerto Rico, announced that it has received approval at the special meeting of stockholders held earlier today to issue 150 million shares of its common stock for $3.50 per share to institutional investors.
Approximately 92 percent of the shares voted in person or by proxy voted in favor of the proposal, the bank said in a statement.
“We are pleased by the support of our stockholders in voting in favor of our proposal,” said FirstBank President Aurelio Alemán. “This stockholder approval accomplishes one of the important conditions for the completion of the capital raise transaction.”
The bank is looking to shore up as much as $525 million to raise capital to improve the delicate financial situation it has been navigating for the better part of the last two years.
