East West Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:EWBC), parent company of East West Bank,
today announced that it has commenced a public offering of 11 million
shares of its common stock, par value $0.001. The offering also includes
an option for the underwriter to purchase an additional 1,650,000 shares.
The public offering completes a comprehensive capital-raising plan that
to-date has raised $168.9 million of tangible common equity through
exchanges of Series A preferred shares into common shares, private sales
of common stock, and the desecuritization of private label MBS
securitizations.
"With our recent actions that have increased tangible common equity by
$168.9 million and this offering, we believe we have the capital to
weather an even more severe economic environment than we currently
expect,” stated Dominic Ng, Chairman, President and Chief Executive
Officer of East West. "And this additional capital will provide us with
flexibility to pursue new growth opportunities or keep up an aggressive
pace in resolving problem assets, should economic conditions get worse,”
concluded Ng.
Barclays Capital Inc. is acting as the sole underwriter of the public
offering. A preliminary prospectus supplement relating to the offering
has been filed with the SEC. Copies of the preliminary prospectus
supplement, and the accompanying prospectus for the offering, may be
obtained from Barclays by telephone at (888) 603-5847, or by mail c/o
Broadridge, Integrated Distribution Services, 1155 Long Island Avenue,
Edgewood, NY 11717, or by email at barclaysprospectus@broadridge.com.
About East West
East West Bancorp is a publicly owned company with $12.7 billion in
assets and is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol
"EWBC”. The Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, East West Bank, is the
second largest independent commercial bank headquartered in Southern
California with 71 branch locations. East West Bank serves the community
with 69 branch locations across Southern and Northern California and a
branch location in Houston, Texas. East West Bank has three
international locations in Greater China, including a full-service
branch in Hong Kong and representative offices in Beijing and Shanghai.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that the company believes are
"forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Rule 175 promulgated thereunder,
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and
Rule 3b-6 promulgated thereunder. These statements relate to our
financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future
performance or business. They usually can be identified by the use of
forward-looking language such as "will likely result,” "may,” "are
expected to,” "is anticipated,” "estimate,” "forecast,” "projected,”
"intends to,” or may include other similar words or phrases such as
"believes,” "plans,” "trend,” "objective,” "continue,” "remain,” or
similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "will,”
"would,” "should,” "could,” "might,” "can,” or similar verbs. You should
not place undue reliance on these statements, as they are subject to
risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those described in
our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated by our
subsequently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports
on Form 8-K.
When considering these forward-looking statements,
you should keep in mind these risks and uncertainties, as well as any
cautionary statements we may make. Moreover, you should treat these
statements as speaking only as of the date they are made and based only
on information then actually known to us.
There are a number of important factors that could cause future
results to differ materially from historical performance and these
forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference
include, but are not limited to: (i) changes in our borrowers’
performance on loans; (ii) changes in the commercial and consumer real
estate markets; (iii) changes in our costs of operation, compliance and
expansion; (iv) changes in the economy, including inflation; (v) changes
in government interest rate policies; (vi) changes in laws or the
regulatory environment; (vii) changes in critical accounting policies
and judgments; (viii) changes in accounting policies or procedures as
may be required by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or other
regulatory agencies; (ix) changes in the equity and debt securities
markets; (x) changes in competitive pressures on financial institutions;
(xi) effect of additional provision for loan losses; (xii) effect of any
goodwill impairment; (xiii)
fluctuations of our stock price;
(xiv) success and timing of our business strategies; (xv) impact of
reputational risk created by these developments on such matters as
business generation and retention, funding and liquidity; (xvi) changes
in our ability to receive dividends from our subsidiaries; and (xvii)
political developments, wars or other hostilities that may disrupt or
increase volatility in securities or otherwise affect economic
conditions.
You should refer to our periodic and current reports filed with the
SEC for further information on other factors which could cause actual
results to be significantly different from those expressed or implied by
these forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, East West
does not undertake to update any such forward-looking statements.
