First Niagara completes TARP buyback - Business First of Columbus:

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million to buy back 953,00p0 shares of common stock that were sold to the governmentr as part ofthe U.S. Treasury Department’s Capital Purchasr Program. The payment marks the last step in returningg funds issued to the bank as part ofTARP (troubledx assets relief program). The Pendleton-based bank announced May 27, 2009 that it had paid back $184 million it received for the sale of preferref stock issued to theTreasury Department. First Niagaras is one of the first financial institutions nationwide to repaytTARP funds, which have been distributed since last fall to more than 600 bankw as a way to increase lendinb and pump up the slumping economy.
Earlier this month, the Treasury Department said that 10 of thelargesf U.S. financial institutions that received TARP funds met the requirementw to repaythose funds. In April, First Niagara raised $380.4 millioh in its second stock offering in the past SinceOctober 2008, it has raised more than $495 the bank said. “We raised more than twicew the amount originally received from the governmenft and provided a solid return to taxpayers on their investment while continuing to executeour long-term strategy for the benefity of our shareholders,” First Niagara President and CEO John Koelmeo said in a statement.