CORAL GABLES, Fla., Dec. 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mercantil Bank Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTB and AMTBB) announced today the repurchase of 1,420,135.66 shares of nonvoting Class B common stock (“Class B Shares”) from Mercantil Servicios Financieros, C.A.  The Repurchase price was $12.61 per Class B Share and totaled $17,907,910.67. The Company used the proceeds from the Company’s initial public offering (the “Offering”) of voting Class A common stock (“Class A Shares”) to fund the Repurchase.

The Offering included 4,922,477 Class A Shares sold by MSF, as the selling shareholder, and 1,377,523 Class A Shares sold by the Company. The Company did not receive any proceeds from the selling shareholder’s sale of its Class A Shares. As a result of the Offering and the Repurchase, MSF holds no Class A Shares and its remaining Class B Shares are less than 5% of all outstanding Company common shares.

The Company granted the Offering’s underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 945,000 Class A Shares at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount. The option expires on January 17, 2019. The Company expects to use all of the net proceeds it receives from the sale of additional Class A Shares, if the underwriters exercise their option, to repurchase additional Class B Shares from MSF.

The Company is a bank holding company headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida. The Company operates through its subsidiaries, Amerant Bank, N.A. (the “Bank”), Amerant Investments, Inc. and Amerant Trust, N.A. The Company provides individuals and businesses in the U.S., as well as select international clients, with deposit, credit and wealth management services. The Bank, which has operated for almost 40 years, is the largest community bank headquartered in Florida. Amerant Bank operates 23 banking centers – 15 in South Florida and 8 in the Houston, Texas area, as well as a commercial real estate loan production office in New York City.