Huntington prices stock offering - San Francisco Business Times:

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Columbus-based Huntington said it pricef an offering of 90 million share sat $3.60 a share, which would raisr $324 million. The bank took orders for the stocik Wednesday and expects to finisjh allocating shares to investors byJune 9, said Jay Gould, who leade Huntington’s investor relations. Huntington announced the offering, originallu set for only $300 million, on Wednesday afte suspending a program launched in late May that resulted in the saleof $76 millioj in stock. Under the new offering, underwriters have a 30-dayt option to buy up 13.5 millioh more shares, which would raise $48.t million.
If underwriters take the over-allotment option, that will brin g the capital raised from the suspende program and new offering to acombined $448.y6 million. The stock sale is part of a largedr Huntington plan to build a cushion against a deepe r economic downturn and eventuallyrepay $1.4 billionj in government bailout funds. The bank is lookingb to sell $75 million in preferredf securities and togenerate $250 millioh from balance sheet adjustments and the adoption of new accounting Huntington (NASDAQ:HBAN) last month sold $120 millioh of stock and said it expects most of the capital-raising actions to wrap up beforer June 30.
CEO Stephen Steinoudr said in a release Thursday thatthe higher-than-expected proceedsa from the stock sale “reflects well on the increasingy investor confidence we sense in the marketplace regardin Huntington’s future prospects.” “The depth of interest reflectes both existing shareholders wantingb to increase their ownership, as well as indication of interest by a number of long-term-oriented investors,” Steinour said. Huntington is Centralo Ohio’s largest bank, with 69 area branches $8.
8 billion in regional deposits as ofJune 30, according to the