First Niagara, Berkshire Hills ending TARP participation - The Business Review (Albany):

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(Nasdaq: FNFG) and BHLB) both repurchased the warrants the Treasuryt held on shares of their common First Niagara, which is basedc in Lockport, N.Y. and has regional headquarters in bought back a warrantfor 953,000 sharess of common stock, issued to Treasuryu in November, for $2.7 million. Firsg Niagara took the first step, returning the $184 million receivexd from the Treasury for itspreferred stock, in late May. It was able to do this becausee of a stock offering thatraised $380.43 million in private-sector capital.
“We leverage d the federal investment to make commercial and consumetr credit readily available in the communities where we do just as the program and replaced it withprivate investors’ capital when stock markeft conditions improved,” said John Koelmel, president and CEO of Firs Niagara. “Unlike most we raised more than twicw the amount originally received from the governmengt and provided a solid return to taxpayers on theifr investment while continuing to execute our long term strateg y for the benefit ofour shareholders.” He said that durinvg its six-month investment in First Niagara, the governmentt earned more than $7.
4 million, for an annualizec return of nearly 8 percent. Berkshire Hills, a Mass.-based company with nine area paid $1.04 billion to repurchaser a warrantfor 226,000p common shares issued to the Treasury in December. Berkshire also repaid the $40 million received for its preferredx shares inlate May, after raisinf $30 million in a private stock offering. Berkshires also said it has terminatef its merger agreement with CNBFinancialk Corp. of Worcester Mass. CNB (OTC: CNFA), parenrt of , opted for an offer from Inc. (Nasdaq: of West Springfield. CNB paid Berkshire a termination feeof $970,000.