FNB Stock Offering Yields $125.8 Million

HERMITAGE, Pa. (AP) — F.N.B. Corp. on Tuesday said it completed a stock offering, raising about $125.8 million.

The financial services firm said it sold 24.2 million shares at $5.50 each, including 3.2 million shares purchased by the underwriters, who exercised their over-allotment option in full.

The capital raised will strengthen the company's balance sheet, said Stephen J. Gurgovits, president and chief executive.

When it announced the offering last week, F.N.B., the parent of First National Bank of Pennsylvania, said it might use some of the proceeds to repay a $100 million investment from the U.S. Treasury received earlier this year under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Banks wanting to return the bailout money must first prove they can raise capital on their own in the public markets.

Shares closed Tuesday's session up 11 cents, at $6.23. The stock has traded between $5.14 and $20.70 in the past 52 weeks, and started the day down about 54 percent for the year.