STNJ Sterling Bank (MM)

Sterling Bank Completes Common Stock Offering MOUNT LAUREL, N.J., May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sterling Bank (NASDAQ:STNJ) announced today that it has completed its public offering of 1,250,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $9.75 per share. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC was the managing underwriter. The common stock trades on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market under the symbol "STNJ." The net proceeds from the offering, totaling approximately $11.1 million, will be added to the Bank's regulatory capital and will be used for expansion, including branch expansion, and general corporate purposes including, but not limited to, increased commercial and consumer lending and investment in securities. The Bank has granted to the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 187,500 additional shares of common stock to cover over- allotments, if any. "We are quite pleased to have completed a second public offering of our common stock in less than two years. We are also pleased with the enhanced level of capital now available to support our continued expansion," commented Robert H. King, President and Chief Executive Officer. Sterling Bank is a community bank headquartered in Burlington County, New Jersey, with assets of $310 million as of March 31, 2005. Sterling Bank's main office is located in Mount Laurel, New Jersey and its five other Community Banking Centers are located in Burlington and Camden Counties in New Jersey. Additionally, Sterling Bank has announced a seventh retail branch to be located in Voorhees Township, Camden County, New Jersey, which is planned for opening in the third quarter of 2005, subject to receipt of appropriate regulatory approvals. Sterling Bank began operations in December 1990 with the purpose of serving consumers and small to medium-sized businesses in its market area. The Bank's deposits are insured to the applicable regulatory limits per depositor by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Sterling Bank is a member of the Federal Reserve System. This release may contain forward-looking statements. We caution that such statements may be subject to a number of uncertainties and actual results could differ materially and, therefore, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Readers should carefully review the risk factors described in the Bank's Offering Circular dated May 4, 2005, for the Bank's public offering of Common Stock and in other documents the Bank files from time to time with the Federal Reserve, including the Bank's Annual Report on Form 10-KSB for the year ended December 31, 2004, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-QSB, and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Sterling Bank assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this release or elsewhere, except as required under applicable law. DATASOURCE: Sterling Bank CONTACT: Robert H. King, President, +1-856-273-5900, , or R. Scott Horner, Executive Vice President, +1-856-273-5900, , both of Sterling Bank Web site: http://www.sterlingnj.com/

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