Eastern Bankshares, a Massachusetts bank with 89 branches in eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire, raised $1.8 billion through a best-efforts subscription offering in connection with its conversion from a mutual holding company to a publicly-traded stock corporation. Eastern Bankshares began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday under the symbol EBC. At the $10 subscription price, the company commands a market value of $1.9 billion.
Because the shares were sold through a best-efforts subscription offering, Eastern Bankshares is excluded from Renaissance Capital's IPO stats.
The company sold 179.3 million shares of common stock at $10 to eligible depositors of Eastern Bank, along with employees, officers, directors, and trustees of the company and affiliated entities. It donated an additional 7.5 million shares to the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation. Eastern Bankshares originally filed to register its shares under a min-max offering of between 129.6 million and 175.4 million shares, subject to be upsized by 15% (201.7 million shares); the company concluded the subscription offering on September 16, 2020, and announced the results of the offering on October 9.
Founded in 1818 as a local savings bank, Boston-based Eastern Bank has evolved into a diversified commercial bank serving eastern Massachusetts and southern and coastal New Hampshire. The company provides products and services to retail, commercial, and small business customers, operating in two primary business segments: banking and insurance agency operations.
Keefe Bruyette Woods acted as selling agent in the offering, and J.P. Morgan served as the company's capital markets advisor.
