BNP Paribas to Spin Off First Hawaiian Rather than Sell It

By Joseph Kellard July 11, 2016, 12:41 p.m. EDT 1 Min Read

First Hawaiian Bank in Honolulu will be spun off rather than sold.

The $19 billion-asset bank disclosed in a regulatory filing that it will list shares on the Nasdaq. First Hawaiian, a unit of the $96 billion-asset BNP Paribas Group in Paris, did not disclose how much stock will be sold, or the price of each share, though there are roughly 139.5 million shares outstanding. The filing noted that the maximum offering price could be $100 million.

BNP Paribas said in December that it was exploring alternatives for the bank, including a possible sale or an initial public offering to boost capital and accelerate timelines for having a recommended Tier 1 capital ratio of 11.5%.

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First Hawaiian will not receive any of the proceeds from selling shares, which are held by a unit of BNP Paribas.

BNP Paribas bought a 45% stake in First Hawaiian in 1998 before taking over full ownership in 2001. The company also owns the $77 billion-asset Bank of the West in San Francisco.

First Hawaiian has 57 branches in its home state, along with a total of five locations in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Joseph Kellard