v3.25.2
Shareholders' Equity
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2025
Equity [Abstract]  
Shareholders' Equity Shareholders’ Equity
Series C, Senior Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock
On May 24, 2022, the Company issued 69,141 shares of Series C Preferred Stock with a liquidation preference of $1,000 per share for the capital investment of $69.1 million from the U.S. Treasury under the ECIP. The ECIP investment qualifies as tier 1 capital for purposes of the bank regulatory capital requirements.
The Series C Preferred Stock accrued no dividend for the first 24 months following the investment date. Thereafter, the dividend rate will be adjusted based on the qualified lending growth criteria listed in the terms of the ECIP investment with the annual dividend rate up to 2%. After the tenth anniversary of the investment date, the dividend rate will be fixed based on the average annual amount of lending in years 2 through 10. Dividends are payable quarterly in arrears on March 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15.
Established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, the ECIP was created to encourage low- and moderate-income community financial institutions and minority depository institutions to provide loans, grants, and forbearance for small businesses, minority-owned businesses, and consumers, especially low-income and underserved communities, including persistent poverty counties, that may be disproportionately impacted by the economic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing direct and indirect capital investments in low- and moderate-income community financial institutions.
The Series C Preferred Stock may be redeemed at the option of the Company on or after the fifth anniversary of issuance (or earlier in the event of loss of regulatory capital treatment), subject to the approval of the appropriate federal banking regulator and in accordance with the federal banking agencies’ regulatory capital regulations.
On January 16, 2025, the Company entered into the Option Agreement with the U.S. Treasury, which grants the Company the conditional option to repurchase the Series C Preferred Stock during the first 15 years following the Company’s issuance of the Series C Preferred Stock. The purchase price for the Preferred Stock under the Option Agreement is based on a formula equal to the present value of the Preferred Stock, calculated as set forth in the Option Agreement, together with any accrued and unpaid dividends thereon and could represent a discount from the Series C Preferred Stock’s liquidation amount.
The purchase option may not be exercised during the first 10 years following the Company’s sale of the Series C Preferred Stock (“the ECIP Period”) unless and until the Company meets at least one of the following three conditions (the “Threshold Conditions”): (1) an average of at least 60% of the Company’s loan originations qualify as “Deep Impact Lending” over any 16 consecutive quarters, (2) an average of at least 85% of the Company’s “total originations qualify as “Qualified Lending” over any 24 quarters or (3) the Series C Preferred Stock has a dividend rate of no more than 0.5% at each of six consecutive “Reset Dates,” in each case as defined in Option Agreement and the terms of the Series C Preferred. In addition to satisfying a Threshold Condition, the Option Agreement requires that the Company meet certain other eligibility conditions in order to exercise the purchase option in the future, including compliance with the terms of the original ECIP purchase agreement and the terms of the Series C Preferred Stock, maintaining qualification as either a certified community development financial institution or a minority depository institution and satisfying other legal and regulatory criteria.
The earliest possible date by which a Threshold Condition may be met is June 30, 2026. However, the Company does not currently meet any of the Threshold Conditions necessary to exercise the purchase option, and there can be no assurance whether and when the Threshold Conditions will be met.
The following table presents the estimated purchase price based on the formula set forth in the Option Agreement as if the Company meet all Threshold Conditions as of March 31, 2025:
Dividend Rate at the Reset Date Immediately Preceding the Purchase Date
($ in thousands)0.50%1.25%2.00%
Purchase price
$4,869 $12,173 $19,476 
Discount
64,272 56,968 49,665 
The Company began paying quarterly dividends on the Series C Preferred Stock beginning in the three months ended June 30, 2024. Dividends on the Series C Preferred Stock totaled $40 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2025.
Stock Repurchases
During the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company repurchased and retired 14,947 shares of common stock at a weighted-average price of $14.88 per share under a stock repurchase program approved by the Board of Directors on August 2, 2023. On July 25, 2024, the Company announced that the term of the stock repurchase program would be to August 1, 2025.
During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company repurchased and retired 50,676 shares of common stock at a weighted-average price of $18.80 per share. As of March 31, 2025, the Company was authorized to purchase 527,101 additional shares under the stock repurchase program.