First Financial Bank Expands Service Offerings with Acquisition of Oak Street Holdings Corporation

CINCINNATI, July 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- First Financial Bank, N.A., a subsidiary of First Financial Bancorp (Nasdaq: FFBC) (collectively "the Company" and "First Financial"), signed a definitive agreement to acquire Oak Street Holdings Corporation ("Oak Street") for $110 million in cash.

Oak Street, a nationwide lender based in Indianapolis, Indiana, was formed in 2003 to provide commission-based loans to help insurance agents and brokers maximize their book-of-business value and grow their agency business.  Oak Street had total assets of $242 million and total loans of $238 million as of June 30, 2015.  Oak Street is majority owned by Angelo, Gordon & Co., a privately-held registered investment advisor dedicated to alternative investing.  Upon completion of the acquisition, Oak Street will become a subsidiary of First Financial Bank, with Rick Dennen, Oak Street's founder and President, continuing in his current position.

"We view a combination with Oak Street as a tremendous opportunity to expand and diversify our service offerings and also provide Oak Street's team with the balance sheet and funding capacity necessary to continue to grow the business," said Claude Davis, Chairman & CEO of First Financial Bank.  "We are very excited by the cultural and business fit between the two organizations and the growth and profitability profile of Oak Street.  This acquisition will complement our existing nationwide franchise finance business which currently has over $500 million of loans outstanding.  We look forward to welcoming Oak Street's associates and clients to First Financial."

"We are excited about our partnership with First Financial Bank, one of the most respected community banks in the country," said Rick Dennen, President of Oak Street.  "Like Oak Street, First Financial has an entrepreneurial culture and is a nimble organization that will provide a very supportive environment from which to build on our success.  We look forward to joining First Financial Bank and leveraging our combined strengths for continued growth."

"The success of our partnership with Oak Street, which commenced in 2010, has exceeded our expectations," said Art Peponis, Head of Private Equity at Angelo, Gordon & Co.  "Oak Street, the premier commercial finance platform focused on insurance industry financing, has achieved significant growth in both portfolio balances and profitability over the last five years.  In First Financial Bank, Oak Street has found a strong, high quality partner to help the company fully realize its growth potential."

The Boards of Directors of both companies have approved the transaction.  Completion of the acquisition is expected within 30 days.

First Financial estimates the following financial impact from this acquisition in the first full year of operation:

• Operating earnings per share accretion of $0.16 - $0.20,
• Net interest margin expansion of more than 0.20% related to Oak Street's portfolio yield of approximately 9.0%,
• Return on average tangible common equity increase of more than 270 basis points,
• Excellent risk-adjusted returns with expected annual net charge offs to total loans of approximately 0.50% and
• Tangible book value dilution earn back between 4 - 5 years

RBC Capital Markets, LLC acted as financial advisor to First Financial and Frost Brown Todd LLC acted as its legal advisor.  Raymond James & Associates, Inc. acted as financial advisor to Oak Street and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP acted as its legal advisor.

CONFERENCE CALL

First Financial Bancorp will hold a conference call and web cast to discuss its second quarter earnings and the pending acquisition of Oak Street Holdings Corporation at 8:30 a.m. (ET) on Friday, July 31, 2015.  To participate, dial (toll free) 1-877-506-6873 (United States) or 1-855-669-9657 (Canada).  International callers can access the teleconference by dialing +1 412-380-2003.  To access a replay of the call, please dial 1-877-344-7529 (U.S.), 1-855-669-9658 (Canada) or +1 412-317-0088 (International).  The replay passcode is 10069484.

For a link to the web cast, please visit www.bankatfirst.com/investor.  The webcast will be available one hour after the live call has ended and will be archived at the Company's website for 12 months.

About First Financial Bancorp

First Financial Bancorp is a Cincinnati, Ohio based bank holding company.  As of March 31, 2015, the Company had $7.2 billion in assets, $4.8 billion in loans, $5.7 billion in deposits and $796 million in shareholders' equity.  The Company's subsidiary, First Financial Bank, N.A., founded in 1863, serves a combination of metropolitan and non-metropolitan markets primarily in Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky through its 106 full-service banking centers. The subsidiary provides banking and financial services products through its four lines of business: commercial, consumer, wealth management and mortgage.  The commercial, consumer and mortgage units provide traditional banking services to business and retail clients.  First Financial Wealth Management provides wealth planning, portfolio management, trust and estate, brokerage and retirement plan services and had approximately $2.4 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2015. Additional information about the Company, including its products, services and banking locations is available at www.bankatfirst.com.

About Oak Street Holdings Corporation

Indianapolis, Indiana-based Oak Street Holdings Corporation is a family of diversified financial services companies that offers commission-based commercial financing exclusively for insurance professionals and third-party loan servicing for financial institutions.  Oak Street utilizes industry knowledge, proprietary technology and partner relationships to deliver top-quality service and financial products to insurance and finance professionals nationwide.  Additional information about Oak Street is available at www.oakstreetfunding.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Certain statements contained in this release which are not statements of historical fact constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.  Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, projections of revenues, income or loss, earnings or loss per share, the payment or non-payment of dividends, capital structure and other financial items, statements of plans and objectives of First Financial or its management or board of directors and statements of future economic performances and statements of assumptions underlying such statements.  Words such as ''believes,'' ''anticipates,'' "likely," "expected," ''intends,'' and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements.  Management's analysis contains forward-looking statements that are provided to assist in the understanding of anticipated future financial performance.  However, such performance involves risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially.  These factors include, but are not limited to: economic, market, liquidity, credit, interest rate, operational and technological risks associated with the Company's business; the effect of and changes in policies and laws or regulatory agencies (notably the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act); management's ability to effectively execute its business plan; mergers and acquisitions, including costs or difficulties related to the integration of acquired companies; the Company's ability to comply with the terms of loss sharing agreements with the FDIC; the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices; and the costs and effects of litigation and of unexpected or adverse outcomes in such litigation.  Please refer to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, as well as its other filings with the SEC, for a more detailed discussion of these risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements.  Such forward-looking statements are meaningful only on the date when such statements are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such a statement is made to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

SOURCE First Financial Bancorp

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