Treasury receives $6.2 million from warrant sale

By Martin Crutsinger, AP

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department received $6.2 million from the sale of warrants it held in Boston Private Financial Holdings (BPFH), the latest effort to recoup costs of the $700 billion financial bailout.

The 2.89 million warrants from the Boston-based institution were sold for $2.20 a warrant, Treasury announced Wednesday. Treasury had set a minimum bid price of $1.40 a warrant. Warrants give the holders the right to buy common stock in the bank at a fixed price.

Boston Private Financial received $154 million in support from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program in November 2008. It repaid $50 million in January 2010 and the remaining $104 million last June.

Treasury said the $6.2 million represented the amount in net proceeds it expected from the auction of the warrants, which occurred Tuesday.

Boston Private Financial common stock closed Tuesday at $6.98 and has traded in a range of $4.67 to $8.97 over the past year.

Purchase of the warrants gives the holder the right to buy Boston Private Financial common stock at $8 a share through November 2018. Investors who purchased the warrants this week are betting that the stock will climb in value in the future.

Last week, the government received $312.2 million from the sale of warrants it held in Citigroup. The bank received $45 billion at the height of the financial crisis in one of the largest government bailouts.

In addition to Citigroup and Boston Private Financial, Treasury has said it will also auction warrants in the first quarter of this year that it holds in Wintrust Financial, which is based in Lake Forest, Ill.

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