The Firm represented the underwriters in connection with three registered public offerings by First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (the “Company”): (i) 56,911,764 shares of common stock, underwritten by Goldman, Sachs & Co., Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P., BofA Merrill Lynch, and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods; (ii) 14,000,000 shares of Fixed-to-Floating Rate Perpetual Non-cumulative Preferred Stock, Series B, at a liquidation preference of $25 per share, underwritten by Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Securities, Citigroup and Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P.; and (iii) $300 million aggregate principal amount of 7.25% Subordinated Notes due 2021, underwritten by Goldman, Sachs & Co., Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. and BofA Merrill Lynch. The net proceeds will be used to consummate the Company’s previously announced acquisition of branches of HSBC Bank USA, National Association announced on July 31, 2011 and for general corporate purposes.
The Company’s wholly-owned national bank subsidiary, First Niagara Bank, N.A., is a community-oriented bank providing retail and commercial banking as well as other financial services in Upstate New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Western Massachusetts. As of September 30, 2011, First Niagara Bank, N.A. had $31.1 billion of assets and $19.6 billion of deposits and operated 332 branches.
The Simpson Thacher team for the offering included Roxane Reardon, Paige Fleming, Daniel Bae, Daniel Sirkis and Brittany McCants (Capital Markets); Stacie McGinn and Mark Chorazak (Bank Regulatory); Joyce Xu and A. Reid Monroe-Sheridan (Derivatives); Jonathan Cantor and Danny Salinas (Tax); Andrew Pagliughi and Jennie Getsin (Blue Sky); and Jeanne Annarumma and Stephanie Mash (Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits).