Exhibit 99.1
First
Financial Bancorp Announces Two Transactions with
Irwin
Union Bank and Trust Company
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§
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Purchase of three banking
centers in Indiana
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–Carmel
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–Greensburg
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–Shelbyville
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§
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Loan purchase of approximately
$150 million in performing commercial
loans
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§
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Expands presence in strategic
locations in existing and adjacent
markets
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–Further
extends reach into central and southeastern Indiana, including the
Indianapolis metropolitan
market
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Cincinnati,
Ohio – July 2, 2009 -- First Financial Bancorp (Nasdaq: FFBC) announced today
that First Financial Bank, N.A., its wholly owned subsidiary bank, has entered
into branch purchase and loan purchase agreements with Irwin Union Bank and
Trust Company, the subsidiary bank of Irwin Financial Corporation (NYSE: IFC),
Columbus, Indiana. Summaries of both agreements are outlined below.
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Loan
Purchase Agreement Summary
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Branch
Purchase Agreement Summary
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§Approximately $150
million in performing loans, selected from the following Indiana
markets:
- Avon - Greensburg
- Carmel
- Indianapolis
- Columbus
- Shelbyville
- Franklin
§Closed on June 30,
2009
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§Three banking
centers
- Includes
deposits of approximately $143 million
§Additional $50
million in select performing commercial and consumer loans
§Expected to close
late in the third quarter of 2009
First
Financial Bank Banking Center Network
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Loan
Composition
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The
proposed branch purchase transaction has received approval from the board of
directors of each company and is subject to regulatory approval and other
customary closing conditions. First Financial expects the proposed purchase of
the three banking centers to close late in the third quarter of
2009.
The
separate loan purchase agreement whereby First Financial purchased approximately
$150 million of performing commercial business loans closed on June 30, 2009.
These loans provide relationship opportunities with clients with whom recently
hired First Financial loan officers in the company’s South Central Indiana
market are already familiar. None of the purchased loans are residential
development, land acquisition or development loans and none are 30 days or more
delinquent, watch list, substandard, classified, or criticized.
With
regard to both transactions, the loans and deposits are being purchased and
assumed without premium. First Financial anticipates the combined transactions
to be accretive to earnings in 2010, the first full year of
integration.
“The
purchase of these three banking centers from Irwin is consistent with our growth
plan of expanding our presence in strategic locations in both existing and
adjacent markets,” said Claude Davis, president and chief executive officer of
First Financial Bancorp.
These
transactions are a continuation of First Financial’s plan to significantly
extend its reach into central and southeastern Indiana where the company already
has announced plans to build a new banking center in Columbus, Indiana, later
this year. Furthermore, these banking centers are a strategic fit with the
company’s recently established Indianapolis market.
First
Financial currently operates 29 banking centers in Indiana. Upon closing the
proposed Irwin banking center transaction later this quarter and when combined
with the Peoples Community Bank transaction expected to close later this month,
First Financial will operate a total of 36 banking centers in 27 communities in
Indiana.
The
Carmel location will become part of First Financial’s growing Indianapolis
market.
“Carmel
is a fast-growing city and an important part of the Indianapolis community and
the metropolitan market,” said Mary Jo Kennelly, Indianapolis market president
for First Financial Bank. “This banking center will allow us to accelerate our
business plan here significantly.”
First
Financial Bank first entered Indianapolis with the opening of a commercial
lending office last August. Since then, the company has continued to add staff
there and plans to continue to build its existing team of commercial lending
officers in Indianapolis throughout the remainder of this year.
Shelbyville
and Greensburg will become part of First Financial’s South Central Indiana
market, headed by market president, Tom Dowd.
“Shelbyville
is located within close proximity of the Indianapolis metropolitan market, and
with the opening of a Honda automobile manufacturing plant last year, Greensburg
is also a thriving and fast-growing community,” said Dowd. “We look forward to
serving business and consumer clients in both of these markets.”
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“We are
very excited about the expansion opportunities that we anticipate both the Irwin
and the Peoples transactions will bring to our franchise,” Davis said. “We look
forward to further growth opportunities for our company in all the markets we
serve. Earlier this year, we opened a new banking center in the Cincinnati
market and announced plans to build additional banking centers later this year
in St. Marys, Ohio; Columbus, Indiana; and Edgewood, Kentucky. As of today, we
operate 82 banking centers in 9 regional markets serving 53 communities. By the
end of this year, we will operate approximately 100 First Financial Bank
locations and ATMs serving 63 communities.”
The
acquired Irwin banking centers will operate under the First Financial Bank name
immediately after the transaction closes. First Financial expects to offer
positions to most Irwin associates of the banking centers being
acquired.
Forward-Looking
Statements
This news
release should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial
statements, notes and tables in First Financial Bancorp’s most recent Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008. Management’s analysis
contains forward-looking statements that are provided to assist in the
understanding of anticipated future financial performance. However, such
performance involves risk and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
differ materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those
discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
management’s ability to effectively execute its business plan; the risk that the
strength of the United States economy in general and the strength of the local
economies in which First Financial conducts operations continue to deteriorate,
resulting in, among other things, a deterioration in credit quality or a reduced
demand for credit, including the resultant effect on First Financial’s loan
portfolio, allowance for loan and lease losses and overall financial purpose;
the ability of financial institutions to access sources of liquidity at a
reasonable cost; the impact of recent upheaval in the financial markets and the
effectiveness of domestic and international governmental actions taken in
response, such as the U.S. Treasury’s TARP and the FDIC’s Temporary Liquidity
Guarantee Program, and the effect of such governmental actions on First
Financial, its competitors and counterparties, financial markets generally and
availability of credit specifically, and the U.S. and international economies,
including potentially higher FDIC premiums arising from participation in the
Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program or from increased payments from FDIC
insurance funds as a result of depository institution failures; the effects of
and changes in policies and laws of regulatory agencies, inflation, and interest
rates; technology changes; mergers and acquisitions; including our ability to
successfully integrate the 17 banking centers which are being acquired from
Peoples Community Bank, and the three banking centers which are being acquired
from Irwin; the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices; adverse
changes in the securities and debt markets; First Financial’s success in
recruiting and retaining the necessary personnel to support business growth and
expansion and maintain sufficient expertise to support increasingly complex
products and services; the cost and effects of litigation and of unexpected or
adverse outcomes in such litigation; uncertainties arising from First
Financial’s participation in the TARP, including impacts on employee recruitment
and retention and other business practices, and uncertainties concerning the
potential redemption of the U.S. Treasury’s preferred stock investment under the
program, including the timing of, regulatory approvals for, and conditions
placed upon, any such redemption; and First Financial’s success at managing the
risks involved in the foregoing. For further discussion of certain factors that
may cause such forward-looking statements to differ materially from actual
results, refer to the 2008 Form 10-K and other public documents filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as the most recent Form 10-Q
filing for the quarter ended March 31, 2009. These documents are available at no
cost within the investor relations section of First Financial’s website at www.bankatfirst.com/investor
and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.
About
First Financial Bancorp
First
Financial Bancorp is a Cincinnati, Ohio based bank holding company with $3.8
billion in assets. Its banking subsidiary, First Financial Bank, N.A., founded
in 1863, provides retail and commercial banking products and services, and
investment and insurance products through its 82 retail banking locations in
Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. The bank’s wealth management division, First
Financial Wealth Resource Group, provides investment management, traditional
trust, brokerage, private banking, and insurance services, and has approximately
$1.6 billion in assets under management. Additional information about the
company, including its products, services, and banking locations, is available
at www.bankatfirst.com/investor.
Additional
Information - First Financial Bancorp
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Investors/Analysts
Patti
Forsythe
Vice
President, Investor Relations
513-979-5837
patti.forsythe@bankatfirst.com
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Media
Cheryl
Lipp
First
Vice President, Marketing Director
513-979-5797
cheryl.lipp@bankatfirst.com
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