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Shares of First Place Fall to 4¢, End Day at 7¢
WARREN, Ohio -- Shares of First Place Financial Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, plummeted to 4 cents Wednesday after opening at 18 cents. They closed at 7 cents on the heaviest trading ever in the history of the provider of financial services, a volume of 2,657,485, or 14.67% of its outstanding shares.
The 4 cents was the worst stock price for First Place Financial since Nov. 18, 2011, eight days after it began trading over-the-counter, to close at 15 cents.
Nasdaq, effective with the opening of trading Nov. 10, had delisted the bank holding company's stock.
After falling to close at 15 cents that Friday, the price recovered and shares traded between 60 and 83 cents most of this year.
Concurrent with declaring bankruptcy reorganization Monday, First Place announced it had reached an agreement with Talmer Bancorp, based in Troy, Mich., to sell the assets of its primary subsidiary, First Place Bank, for $45 million. If consummated by Jan. 31 as the parties hope, that would leave First Place Financial with only First Place Holdings, a much smaller subsidiary, and owing the U.S. Treasury $72.9 million in Troubled Asset Relief Program debt plus other liabilities.
In the assets purchase agreement signed last Friday, Talmer and First Place explicitly agreed that Talmer would not assume any liabilities of the bank. Pending regulatory approval, Talmer did agree to infuse as much as $205 million in capital into First Place Bank so it could meet regulatory capital requirements.
IN-DEPTH COVERAGE:
First Place to Keep Name Under Talmer Bancorp
First Place Defaults on $62 Million It Borrowed
First Place Files Chapter 11, Agrees to $45M Asset Sale