Wilshire Bancorp Launches $100 Million Stock Offering

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Shares of Wilshire Bancorp Inc. fell 9 percent on Tuesday, a day after the Koreatown bank commenced an underwritten public offering of about $100 million of its common stock.

The holding company for Wilshire State Bank said late Monday that a substantial portion of the net proceeds from the offering will be used for bank capital, with the rest going to general corporate purposes. Analysts have been expecting the company to announce a significant capital raise so it can dispose of nonperforming loans and clean up its books.

The announcement did not say how many shares would be sold or at what offering price, but at Monday’s closing price, roughly 27.3 million shares likely would be involved. Wilshire currently has 29.5 million shares outstanding and a $106 million market cap.

The company expects to grant underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to $15 million of additional shares to cover any over-allotments. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is book-running manager for the offering and Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc. is co-manager.

Wilshire shares on Tuesday closed down 33 cents, or 9 percent, to $3.33 on the Nasdaq.

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