NOVATO – Circle Bancorp, parent company of Circle Bank, started investor presentations about its public offering but has yet to set a date.
Likely it will be in February, according to Gary Tobin, spokesman for the bank.
The bank recently announced the anticipated offering price of shares to be $10.50 and that between 3.05 million and 4.01 million shares would be available.
The company also said it would use the symbol CIRB when it began trading on the Nasdaq. No date for the offering has been set, but the expectation is early 2011. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said a 500-share minimum purchase would be required in the IPO.
“The main reason for going public now is that we can’t think of a better time for a healthy bank to be raising capital,” said Kit Cole, chief executive officer and chairman of the board. “Most companies that are raising money are trying to dig themselves out of a hole, and that means investors are buying shares of broken banks. In this case they are getting management that has been able to thrive during the worst period of banking since the Depression, a management that has been able to manage risk control.”
Proceeds from the offering, which is expected to raise $20 million to $30 million, will be used for operations and a continuation of its branch network expansion program. The bank filed the initial announcement of the IPO in October.
