The Honolulu-based bank Central Pacific Financial (CPF) ended the week with a solid gain after announcing a major share buyback program designed to increase shareholder value. The company’s stock had had a rough month leading up to the announcement, making the buyback that much moiré welcome.
The shares will be repurchased in a rolling Dutch auction. CPF President explained that this method, which values shares between $18 and $21, offers “an efficient way to sell all or some of their shares without the potential disruption in share price from market sales."
A rolling Dutch auction will allow shareholders some flexibility in selling. The method allows shareholders to indicate how many shares and at what price, or prices, they wish to tender their shares of the company.
Investors in Central Pacific have been on quite a ride over the last several years. While most all financial institutions were hit hard during the global recession, Central Pacific’s woes were especially pronounced. The company’s shares topped $787 apiece at the beginning of 2007 before tanking spectacularly.
The government was forced to bail out Central Pacific in January 2009 to keep them from going insolvent. After Central Pacific briefly recovery following the bailout, shares once again tumbled, and have since languished in the $10 to $20 range.
In 2012 it was announced that the US Treasury had provided $135 million in TARP funds, and was only able to recover $74 million, thus posting a $61 million in losses. Since then, Central Pacific has made strides to once again become profitable and return value to stockholders.
The buyback includes $68.8 million worth of shares from private investors, and $52.2 million from its two largest shareholders, Carlyle Financial Services Harbor L.P. and ACMO-CPF, LLC.
Central Pacific operates 35 branches throuhgout Hawaii. On Feb. 21 shares of Central Pacific climbed 6.29 percent to hit $19.76 a share.
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