Treasury Raises $7.7M in Auction of Zions Warrants

The Treasury Department raised more than $7 million from the sale of nearly 5.8 million warrants to purchase common stock in Zions Bancorp. (ZION)

The offering was priced at $1.35 per warrant and completed through an auction that ended Wednesday, the $52.4 billion-asset company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The net proceeds were $7.7 million, Treasury says.

The Zions warrants have an exercise price of $36.27 per share and expire in November 2018, the company said.

Treasury had said last week that it would sell warrants to purchase common stock in Zions and M&T Bank Corp. (MTB). It had acquired the warrants as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. 

Zions said in September that it repurchased the remaining $700 million in preferred stock that Treasury held under Tarp. Overall Zions had received $1.4 billion in Tarp funds. 

In other Tarp-related transactions, Treasury said Tuesday it expected to raise $62 million from selling stakes in seven community banks. The auction of preferred shares and subordinated debt is expected to close next week. The banks received roughly $76 million from December 2008 to June 2009 under Tarp.

The offering was priced through a modified Dutch auction where potential investors submit their bids in advance. Treasury began auctioning shares in May of banks left in Tarp as part of an effort to wind down the program. 

Included in the latest auction were Baraboo Bancorp. in Wisconsin, Central Community in Temple, Texas, Community West Bancshares in Goleta, Calif., First Advantage Bancshares in Coon Rapids, Minn., Manhattan Bancshares in Illinois, Presidio Bank in San Francisco and Security Bancshares of Pulaski County in Saint Robert, Mo.