Mackinac in Michigan Cleared for Partial Tarp Redemption

Mackinac Financial (MFNC) in Manistique, Mich., has received regulatory approval to buy back nearly two-thirds of the preferred stock it issued under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The $550 million-asset company said Wednesday that it had been cleared to redeem $7 million of the $11 million in preferred stock it issued to the Treasury Department in 2009. The Treasury Department auctioned the shares in August. Mackinac plans to repurchase the shares from third parties.

The company has yet to determine the price and timing of the redemption. A Mackinac spokesman was not immediately available.

"This partial redemption of our preferred stock will be another step in the execution of our strategic plan for increasing value to our common shareholders," Paul Tobias, Mackinac's chairman and chief executive, said in a press release. "The approval of this action by our regulators also supports this action as it relates to our strong consolidated capital levels subsequent to this redemption, a further indication of our overall financial strength."

Mackinac, which raised $11.6 million last August by selling stock to an investor, said at the time that it planned to use the funds to redeem its Tarp shares. The Treasury Department raised $10.4 million by auctioning the preferred stock.