The Financial Services team advised Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc. (“Washington Trust”), parent company of The Washington Trust Company, of Westerly (the “Bank” in its underwritten public offering of shares of common stock at a public offering price of $34.00 per share. The 2,198,528 shares sold in the offering include 286,764 shares sold pursuant to the exercise of the underwriters' purchase option. The expected proceeds to Washington Trust, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions but before deducting operating expenses payable by Washington Trust, are approximately $71 million. Washington Trust intends to use the net proceeds of this offering for general corporate purposes to support continued organic growth and capital generation, which are expected to include investments in the Bank and Bank balance sheet optimization strategies involving the sale of lower-yielding loans and available for sale debt securities, the repayment of wholesale funding balances and the purchase of debt securities with current market yields.
Washington Trust Bancorp is the publicly-owned holding company of The Washington Trust Company, with $7.1 billion in assets as of September 30, 2024. Founded in 1800, Washington Trust is recognized as the oldest community bank in the nation, the largest state-chartered bank headquartered in Rhode Island and one of the Northeast's premier financial services companies. Washington Trust values its role as a community bank and is committed to helping the people, businesses, and organizations of New England improve their financial lives. The Bank offers a wide range of commercial banking, mortgage banking, personal banking and wealth management services through its offices in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts and a full suite of convenient digital tools. Washington Trust is a member of the FDIC and an equal housing lender.
The Goodwin team was led by Samantha Kirby and Jeff Letalien, and included Bill McCurdy, Eva Xu, and Jason Wu.
For more information on the deal, please read the press release.