National Bank Holdings (NBHC) in Greenwood Village, Colo., has received regulatory approval for its bank to pay a $313 million dividend to the holding company.
The $5.2 billion-asset company also said that it had repurchased another large block of common stock from an institutional investor as management looks to hold more shares for potential acquisitions.
National Bank has repurchased more than 5.8 million shares of common stock since Sept. 30. It bought 5 million shares from an institutional investor last month and another 756,000 shares from a second investor this month. The shares, repurchased for $20 each, represented about 11% of the company's outstanding stock. National Bank bought another 35,000 shares in the open market at an average price of $20.40 a share.
As for the dividend, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the payment two months before a prohibition on such transfers was set to expire. The prohibition was part of an operating agreement the company reached with the OCC before launching banking operations.
"The capital at the holding company provides us additional flexibility to continue to be opportunistic with M&A and capital management strategies," Brian Lilly, the company's chief financial officer, said in a press release. Discussing the repurchase activity, Lilly said that, "as our M&A opportunities have generally shifted from all-cash failed bank transactions to a mix of cash and stock for healthy bank acquisitions, we find it financially attractive to acquire our shares for deployment in future M&A opportunities."
The company also announced a new repurchase program, where it can buy back up to $35 million in stock.
