Cathay General Bancorp Announces Pricing and an Increase in Size of Its Public Offering of Common Stock to $115 Million
03 February 2010 - 1:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cathay General
Bancorp (the "Company", Nasdaq: CATY), the holding company for
Cathay Bank, today announced that it priced an offering (the
"Offering") of 13,068,182 shares of its common stock at an initial
price to the public of $8.80 per share, or $115 million in
aggregate gross proceeds. The Company has increased the size of the
offering from the previously announced $100 million to $115 million
in aggregate gross proceeds. The closing, which is subject to
customary closing conditions, is expected to occur on or about
February 5, 2010. The Company has granted the underwriters a 30-day
option to purchase up to an additional 1,960,227 shares of its
common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. BofA Merrill Lynch
is acting as sole bookrunner and Goldman, Sachs & Co. is acting
as co-manager for the Offering. The Company expects to use the net
proceeds of the Offering for general corporate purposes. The
Offering is being made pursuant to a prospectus supplement to the
Company's prospectus dated November 19, 2009, filed as part of the
Company's effective registration statement. When available, copies
of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus
relating to these securities may be obtained by contacting BofA
Merrill Lynch, Attention: Preliminary Prospectus Department, 4
World Financial Center, New York, NY 10080, or email . This press
release is neither an offer to sell, nor a solicitation of an offer
to buy, any securities of the Company, and there shall not be any
sale of securities of the Company in any state or jurisdiction in
which such an offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior
to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such
jurisdiction. ABOUT CATHAY GENERAL BANCORP Cathay General Bancorp
is the holding company for Cathay Bank, a California
state-chartered bank. Founded in 1962, Cathay Bank offers a wide
range of financial services. Cathay Bank currently operates 31
branches in California, eight branches in New York State, one in
Massachusetts, two in Texas, three in Washington State, three in
the Chicago, Illinois area, one in New Jersey, one in Hong Kong,
and a representative office in Shanghai and in Taipei.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND OTHER NOTICES The information
contained in this press release is not intended as a solicitation
to buy Cathay General Bancorp stock or any other securities and is
provided for information only. Statements made in this press
release, other than statements of historical fact, are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the applicable
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
regarding management's beliefs, projections, and assumptions
concerning future results and events. These forward-looking
statements, including statements relating to Cathay General
Bancorp's expectations regarding the completion, timing and size of
the Offering, may include, but are not limited to including, such
words as "expected," "will," "up to" and variations of these words
and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on
estimates, beliefs, projections, and assumptions and are not
guarantees of future performance. These forward-looking statements
are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from our historical experience
and our present expectations or projections. There can be no
assurance that Cathay General Bancorp will be able to complete the
public offering on the anticipated terms or timing, or at all, as a
result of these risks and uncertainties and other factors, which
include, but are not limited to, adverse developments or conditions
related to or arising from: significant volatility and
deterioration in the credit and financial markets; adverse changes
and disruption in general economic conditions and the capital
markets; the effects of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act,
difficult conditions in the U.S. and international financial
markets; volatility or deterioration in the price of our common
stock; the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the Troubled
Asset Relief Program (TARP) and any changes or amendments thereto;
credit loss and deterioration in asset or credit quality; the
availability of capital; the impact of any goodwill impairment that
may be determined; acquisitions of other banks, if any;
fluctuations in interest rates; liquidity risk; inflation and
deflation; real estate market conditions; the soundness of other
financial institutions; expansion into new market areas;
earthquakes, wildfires, or other natural disasters; our ability to
compete with competitors and competitive pressures; our ability to
retain key personnel; current and potential future supervisory
action by bank supervisory authorities; changes in laws,
regulations, and accounting rules, or their interpretations;
legislative, judicial, or regulatory actions and developments
against us; general economic or business conditions in California
and other regions where Cathay Bank has operations, including, but
not limited to, adverse changes in economic conditions resulting
from the continuation or worsening of the current economic
downturn; and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions
related to the public offering. These and other factors are further
described in Cathay General Bancorp's Current Report on Form 8-K
filed on February 1, 2010 (Item 8.01 in particular), other reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and
other filings Cathay General Bancorp makes with the SEC from time
to time; including the prospectus supplement related to the
offering described above. Actual results in any future period may
also vary from the past results discussed in this press release.
Given these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak
to the date of this press release. Cathay General Bancorp has no
intention and undertakes no obligation to update any
forward-looking statement or to publicly announce any revision of
any forward-looking statement to reflect future developments or
events, except as required by law. Cathay General Bancorp's filings
with the SEC are available at the website maintained by the SEC at
http://www.sec.gov/, or by request directed to Cathay General
Bancorp, 9650 Flair Drive, El Monte, California 91731, Attention:
Investor Relations (626) 279-3286. DATASOURCE: Cathay General
Bancorp CONTACT: Heng W. Chen of Cathay General Bancorp,
+1-626-279-3652 Web Site: http://www.cathaybank.com/
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