CINCINNATI,
July 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/
-- First Financial Bank, N.A., a subsidiary of First Financial
Bancorp (Nasdaq: FFBC) (collectively "the Company" and "First
Financial"), signed a definitive agreement to acquire Oak
Street Holdings Corporation ("Oak Street") for $110
million in cash.
Oak Street, a nationwide lender based in Indianapolis, Indiana, was formed in 2003 to
provide commission-based loans to help insurance agents and
brokers maximize their book-of-business value and grow their
agency business. Oak Street had total assets of $242
million and total loans of $238
million as of June 30,
2015. Oak Street is majority owned by Angelo, Gordon &
Co., a privately-held registered investment advisor dedicated to
alternative investing. Upon completion of the
acquisition, Oak Street will become a subsidiary of First
Financial Bank, with Rick Dennen,
Oak Street's founder and President, continuing in his current
position.
"We view a combination with Oak Street as a tremendous
opportunity to expand and diversify our service offerings and also
provide Oak Street's team with the balance sheet and funding
capacity necessary to continue to grow the business," said
Claude Davis, Chairman & CEO
of First Financial Bank. "We are very excited by the
cultural and business fit between the two organizations and the
growth and profitability profile of Oak Street. This
acquisition will complement our existing nationwide franchise
finance business which currently has over $500 million of loans outstanding. We look
forward to welcoming Oak Street's associates and clients to First
Financial."
"We are excited about our partnership with First
Financial Bank, one of the most respected community banks in the
country," said Rick Dennen, President of Oak Street.
"Like Oak Street, First Financial has an entrepreneurial
culture and is a nimble organization that will provide a very
supportive environment from which to build on our success. We
look forward to joining First Financial Bank and leveraging our
combined strengths for continued growth."
"The success of our partnership with Oak Street, which
commenced in 2010, has exceeded our expectations," said
Art Peponis, Head of Private Equity
at Angelo, Gordon & Co. "Oak Street, the premier
commercial finance platform focused on insurance industry
financing, has achieved significant growth in both portfolio
balances and profitability over the last five years. In First
Financial Bank, Oak Street has found a strong, high quality partner
to help the company fully realize its growth potential."
The Boards of Directors of both companies have approved
the transaction. Completion of the acquisition is expected
within 30 days.
First Financial estimates the following financial
impact from this acquisition in the first full year of
operation:
- Operating earnings per share accretion of $0.16 - $0.20,
- Net interest margin expansion of more than 0.20% related
to Oak Street's portfolio yield of approximately 9.0%,
- Return on average tangible common equity increase of more
than 270 basis points,
- Excellent risk-adjusted returns with expected annual net
charge offs to total loans of approximately 0.50% and
- Tangible book value dilution earn back between 4 - 5
years
RBC Capital Markets, LLC acted as financial advisor to
First Financial and Frost Brown Todd LLC acted as its legal
advisor. Raymond James & Associates, Inc. acted as
financial advisor to Oak Street and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer &
Feld LLP acted as its legal advisor.
CONFERENCE CALL
First Financial Bancorp will hold a conference call and
web cast to discuss its second quarter earnings and the pending
acquisition of Oak Street Holdings Corporation at 8:30 a.m. (ET) on Friday,
July 31, 2015. To participate, dial (toll free)
1-877-506-6873 (United States) or
1-855-669-9657 (Canada).
International callers can access the teleconference by dialing +1
412-380-2003. To access a replay of the call, please dial
1-877-344-7529 (U.S.), 1-855-669-9658 (Canada) or +1 412-317-0088
(International). The replay passcode is 10069484.
For a link to the web cast, please visit
www.bankatfirst.com/investor. The webcast will be available
one hour after the live call has ended and will be archived at the
Company's website for 12 months.
About First Financial Bancorp
First Financial Bancorp is a Cincinnati, Ohio based bank holding
company. As of March 31, 2015,
the Company had $7.2 billion in
assets, $4.8 billion in loans,
$5.7 billion in deposits and
$796 million in shareholders'
equity. The Company's subsidiary, First Financial Bank, N.A.,
founded in 1863, serves a combination of metropolitan and
non-metropolitan markets primarily in Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky through its 106 full-service banking
centers. The subsidiary provides banking and financial services
products through its four lines of business: commercial, consumer,
wealth management and mortgage. The commercial, consumer and
mortgage units provide traditional banking services to business and
retail clients. First Financial Wealth Management provides
wealth planning, portfolio management, trust and estate, brokerage
and retirement plan services and had approximately $2.4 billion in assets under management as of
March 31, 2015. Additional
information about the Company, including its products, services and
banking locations is available at www.bankatfirst.com.
About Oak Street Holdings
Corporation
Indianapolis,
Indiana-based Oak Street Holdings Corporation is a family of
diversified financial services companies that offers
commission-based commercial financing exclusively for insurance
professionals and third-party loan servicing for financial
institutions. Oak Street utilizes industry knowledge,
proprietary technology and partner relationships to deliver
top-quality service and financial products to insurance and finance
professionals nationwide. Additional information about Oak
Street is available at www.oakstreetfunding.com.
Forward-Looking Statement
Certain statements contained in this release which are not
statements of historical fact constitute forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are
not limited to, projections of revenues, income or loss, earnings
or loss per share, the payment or non-payment of dividends, capital
structure and other financial items, statements of plans and
objectives of First Financial or its management or board of
directors and statements of future economic performances and
statements of assumptions underlying such statements. Words
such as ''believes,'' ''anticipates,'' "likely," "expected,"
''intends,'' and other similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of
identifying such statements. Management's analysis contains
forward-looking statements that are provided to assist in the
understanding of anticipated future financial performance.
However, such performance involves risks and uncertainties that may
cause actual results to differ materially. These factors
include, but are not limited to: economic, market, liquidity,
credit, interest rate, operational and technological risks
associated with the Company's business; the effect of and changes
in policies and laws or regulatory agencies (notably the recently
enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act);
management's ability to effectively execute its business plan;
mergers and acquisitions, including costs or difficulties related
to the integration of acquired companies; the Company's ability to
comply with the terms of loss sharing agreements with the FDIC; the
effect of changes in accounting policies and practices; and the
costs and effects of litigation and of unexpected or adverse
outcomes in such litigation. Please refer to the Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, as well as its other filings
with the SEC, for a more detailed discussion of these risks,
uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to
differ from those discussed in the forward-looking
statements. Such forward-looking statements are meaningful
only on the date when such statements are made, and the Company
undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to
reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such a
statement is made to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated
events.
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/first-financial-bank-expands-service-offerings-with-acquisition-of-oak-street-holdings-corporation-300118076.html
SOURCE First Financial Bancorp